An Unacceptable Sitch
by Allaine
Summary: Kim and Ron are twentyone and living apart at college, while Team Possible has been replaced by an entire crimefighting family.  But Kim finds the original is usually still the best after a surprise visit from a desperate former enemy.
1. Chapter One

Title: An Unacceptable Sitch (1/??)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: None that I can think of.  
  
Feedback: As this is my first story in a fandom I've only begun following in the last month, I hope everyone will give me their opinions.  
  
Disclaimers: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Shego, Wade, and all other characters from the Kim Possible television series belong to Disney, its television production arm, and the creators and producers of the animated series. I seek no profit from writing this, and expect none.  
  
Summary: Kim and Ron are twenty-one and living apart at college, while Team Possible has been replaced by an entire crime-fighting family. But Kim finds the original is usually still the best after a surprise visit from a desperate former enemy.   
  
_____________________  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"I'd better go, Ron," Kim said regretfully, eyeing her desk with dread. "I've still got four chapters to study for the Biochemistry test tomorrow, not to mention another few pages for my 300-page thesis on Children's Marketing and Advertising due in May, _and_ I have to get up early for practice in the morning."  
  
"Kim, Kim, Kim," Ron replied, shaking his head on the screen of her Kimmunicator. "When are you going to learn that you have attained that perfect convergence of factors which permits maximum relaxation effect?"  
  
"Let me guess," Kim retorted. "In college and over the age of twenty-one?"  
  
"I am a college man, therefore I drink beer," Ron said piously.  
  
"And I am a woman who wants to graduate college, therefore I avoid mind-altering substances," Kim answered. "Mighty big words you're using there, by the way. It looks like that English degree you're working toward might be useful for something after all."  
  
"I could teach, you know."  
  
"I thought you wanted to get away from school," Kim reminded him.  
  
"Yeah, but if I was a teacher, I could give the kids detention for sticking me in a locker," Ron reasoned.  
  
Kim Possible sighed. "I might consider going out for a drink . . ."  
  
"There's the spirit, Kimmie."  
  
"If you were here to go out with me."  
  
Ron Stoppable's face fell. "Yeah, that is a problem," he admitted. "I can't exactly drive to Stanford from here."  
  
Kim smiled. "At least we don't need to hitch rides from people we saved any more."  
  
"Twenty-one, living alone, and I got my own car," Ron agreed. "That's freedom, Kim. Besides, it's not like there's been anyone to hitch rides from lately."  
  
This was true. Kim Possible was out of the hero business, after all.  
  
"You could always go out with someone else," he pointed out.  
  
"Between boys at the moment," Kim said.  
  
"I hope you're not being literal, Kimmie."  
  
"Talk to you tomorrow, Ron," she said fondly.  
  
"You too, Kim." The screen suddenly whizzed as Ron's face was replaced by the image of a small, pink rodent. "Rufus says hi," Ron's voice could be heard.  
  
The naked mole rat energetically waved.  
  
"Hi, Rufus. Bye, Ron," Kim told them. Then she turned off the Kimmunicator and promptly dropped her face into the textbook in front of her. They were a couple thousand miles apart, but Ron would continue to be her best friend no matter what.  
  
Maybe if they were still Team Possible, she never would have gone to school in California while Ron remained behind at the state university. But there was no need for Team Possible when you had the Acceptable Family.  
  
"Biochemistry," she mumbled, banishing thoughts of home and friends and supervillains she hadn't beaten in four years or more.  
  
___________________________  
  
Kim desperately tried to go to sleep, knowing there were only five more hours before she had to be up for early practice, but while her body was exhausted, her mind refused to give in. Earlier thoughts of her teenage years had summoned a host of old memories, especially the faces of people she hadn't seen in ages, and frankly she wasn't all that unhappy about it.  
  
Like Duff Killigan, who had that unfortunate mishap with a miniature golf windmill and discovered he couldn't hit a ball very far with only one arm. Or Adrena Lynn, who'd found that hosting a show about other people doing extremely stupid stunts was just as lucrative as hosting a show about doing them herself. Or Doctor Drakken, safely ensconced in prison for years now. Without Shego to break him out, he'd been reduced to a paper tiger.  
  
  
  
Or Shego herself, who'd vanished from the face of the earth years ago and was presumed dead. Kim liked to think that wasn't the case. At least she could respect Shego's fighting skills, and the sidekick didn't have a bizarre obsession like golf or chimp karate.  
  
Then again, she'd always had the single-minded goal of killing Kim Possible, while her employer often came up with the most crackpot schemes for ruling the world. She was an enemy no one would miss.  
  
Kim groaned and rolled over in bed again. She wasn't a superhero, and she wasn't a babysitter. She was a college student like many people her age, and she was going to live a long, normal life, instead of being dead at twenty-five in some exotic jungle.  
  
When the window in her dorm room shattered, her first thought was that she'd just been falling asleep when the sound of breaking glass interrupted her.  
  
Then Kim sat bolt upright. "What?!" she said, rearing back.  
  
A shadowy figure loomed over her bed, before swaying and retreating backwards. The moonlight passed over her face and illuminated her features.  
  
Say the devil's name, Kim thought abstractly as she gaped. "Shego?!"  
  
The ex-sidekick focused on Kim's face and glared. A retort seemed to be on her lips, but then her green eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out.  
  
Kim had seen way too many weird things as a crime fighter to remain surprised by anything for long. College had been no different. Just check out your average football game.  
  
She slid towards the foot of her bed before getting out. There was broken glass all over the floor where Shego lay. She fetched her broom and carefully swept as much of the glass as she could. Then she knelt beside Shego and shook her gently, then more insistently. "Out cold," she murmured.  
  
Reaching up, Kim turned on her bendable lamp and twisted it so that the light shined on Shego's form. "At least I don't have a roommate," she thought.  
  
If Shego had been hoping to strike a formidable pose, passing out had not been a good start. Nor did her appearance impress Kim now. She was wearing a beat-up sweater with oil patches on the front, and cheap cotton drawstring pants. Her hair was limp, and her skin pale. Well, paler than usual, anyway. Shego's cheeks had thinned, and she looked like she'd lost weight. It was totally unlike the woman who'd taken such pride in her look. Now she looked like she'd just escaped from a Third World military prison.  
  
For all Kim knew, Shego _had_ escaped from a Third World military prison.  
  
Shego was no longer her problem, however. If she'd come to take some sort of revenge on Kim, she'd come years too late. Her impulse was to call the police and have her taken back to whatever dark place she'd crawled out of.  
  
Kim's instincts, however, told her that there was something very strange about Shego's arrival, and that if she allowed the authorities to take command, she'd never know what was going on.  
  
Sighing, Kim leaned over and slid her arms under Shego's back. "Let's go, Shego," she said. "I don't need your bony ass on my floor."  
  
As she picked Shego up, she revised her earlier opinion. Shego had lost a _lot_ of weight - maybe twenty, thirty pounds. Concerned and bewildered, Kim laid Shego down on her bed and went to the sink to get a wet washcloth. As she turned away, she noticed something else different about Shego.  
  
Her plasma gloves were gone.  
  
That didn't change the fact that she was dangerous, with those claws and all, and Kim cautiously rubbed the dirt from Shego's face, hoping the water would revive her. "Come on, Shego, what's the sitch?"  
  
There was a slight murmuring sound coming from Shego's lips as her eyelids fluttered weakly.  
  
"Shego? Shego! What was that?"  
  
" . . . haven't heard those words in years, and I'm still sick of them . . . "  
  
Shego finally opened her eyes again and looked up at Kim. Her eyes were exhausted and belligerent at the same time. "Kimmie."  
  
"Hello, Shego. I haven't seen you in what, four years?" Kim frowned. "It hasn't been long enough."  
  
"Feels like twenty," Shego murmured. "Surprised I made it."  
  
"What do you want, Shego?" Kim asked, feeling a bit tired herself.  
  
Shego looked away and scowled angrily.  
  
"If you came here just to be a pain like you always were, then I'm calling the police," Kim said, exasperated, as she reached for the phone.  
  
"Don't," Shego replied quickly. "I need your . . . help."  
  
Kim stared at her. "What could you possibly expect me to help _you_ with?"  
  
Shego sat up a little. "How about saving me, _and_ the world, from the Acceptable Family?" she asked quietly.  
  
She'd surprised Kim for the second time that night.  
  
To be continued . . . 


	2. Chapter Two

Title: An Unacceptable Sitch (2/??)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: None that I can think of.  
  
Feedback: As this is my first story in a fandom I've only begun following in the last month, I hope everyone will give me their opinions.  
  
Disclaimers: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Shego, Wade, and all other characters from the Kim Possible television series belong to Disney, its television production arm, and the creators and producers of the animated series. I seek no profit from writing this, and expect none.  
  
Summary: Kim and Ron are twenty-one and living apart at college, while Team Possible has been replaced by an entire crime-fighting family. But Kim finds the original is usually still the best after a surprise visit from a desperate former enemy.   
  
_____________________  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"I think maybe you've gotten a few wires crossed, Shego," Kim told her. "Because the Acceptable Family is so not the bad guys, and you are so not a hero. It's the other way around, okay?"  
  
"You're right, I'm no hero," Shego said, smiling sardonically. "But I also don't have a place in the Acceptables' world. I like this world the way it is - ripe for the taking. By me."  
  
"Okay, so you haven't forgotten who you are," Kim replied, rolling her eyes. "But it's not my problem if the Acceptables are on your tail for something you did. Why don't you try Doctor Drakken instead?"  
  
Shego looked at Kim like she was the dumbest person on the planet. "If someone wanted to win, who would you tell them to go to - you, or Doctor D?"  
  
Kim admitted she had a point. "Even so, he's a villain, just like you. You know I'm not going to help you get away with whatever crime you committed."  
  
"My crime is knowing what the Acceptables really are," Shego said stubbornly.  
  
"This could take all night," Kim muttered.  
  
The Acceptable Family had arrived on the scene during the summer vacation prior to Kim's senior year of high school. The first time, they'd gotten in Kim's way, allowing Monkeyfist to escape. But the next few times after that, they weren't in Kim's way because she was in theirs. Kim would arrive at the villain's lair and find them tied up on the floor, doomsday devices destroyed and stolen property already on their way back to the owners.  
  
The Acceptables had been polite to Kim. They had offered her due respect for her abilities, but they obviously believed they were better at it, and eventually Team Possible had to conclude the Acceptables were right. She'd graciously stepped aside and found plenty of other outlets for her time. Kim suspected that at heart her parents were quite glad not to see her risking her life any longer.  
  
The Acceptable Family could risk their lives from now on - Mr. and Mrs. Acceptable, and their three children John, Don, and Yvonne. The kids had been between the ages of thirteen and sixteen, but they attended private school, not the public high school, so Kim only met them in the field. The parents were stern, strict, and extremely efficient. The children had been nice enough, although a little too intense for Kim's tastes. At least the sense of humor gene that skipped their parents appeared in them. They always seemed to find their enemies to be an amusing sort of diversion.  
  
For the Acceptables, the villains had been little more than a game. The family had trained in fighting and acrobatics for years, and they operated as a well-oiled machine in combat. Undoubtedly that was why Shego had vanished. She must have found the times pretty lean when it was always four or five-to-one. Now the children were in their late teens, and probably even stronger fighters. And as much of a genius Wade was with computers and devices, Mrs. Acceptable and her son Don turned out to be even better.  
  
It had been a bitter few days for Kim, but she quickly accepted the fact that they were better and faster than Team Possible. To hold on to her status as a hero would only cause trouble. The world had been better off with the Acceptable Family, which was why Kim took Shego's words with several grains of salt.  
  
"I thought you were so tough all those times I fought you," Shego sneered. "I didn't expect you to be scared off so easily by the Acceptable Family."  
  
"I wasn't scared off," Kim shot back. "I stepped aside."  
  
"More like pushed over," Shego said.  
  
"If this is your idea of convincing me . . ."  
  
Shego grimaced. "Too easy just bantering with you," she mumbled. "Look, if you're wondering where I've been all these years, I've been in prison."  
  
"In prison? Where?"  
  
"I was a personal guest at the Acceptable abode for some time," Shego drawled with an upper-class inflection. "Although between us, their hospitality sucks."  
  
Kim laughed. "Wait, so you're telling me the Acceptables kept you prisoner? Where, in their basement?"  
  
"You've been out of the loop too long, Kimmie. I don't think they even live in that old house of theirs. They've got a state-of-the-art facility outside of Middleton. Living quarters, nursery, training rooms, special prototype computers you can't find anywhere else - holding cells. It's a nice operation," Shego conceded reluctantly. "I got a good look from the inside. Drakken never had anything so good."  
  
"I haven't been out of the loop, Shego," Kim retorted. "And I've never heard a word about some new Acceptable base."  
  
"I guess it's a secret," Shego said, shrugging. "It's not like I've been in touch with the outside world lately. I only escaped a week ago."  
  
"Even if it was true," Kim replied, "why you? You were just Drakken's sidekick. Why is Drakken in a regular prison, and not you?"  
  
"How many times has Drakken escaped from prison because of me?" Shego asked rhetorically. "And how many times has he escaped without me?"  
  
Kim didn't answer.  
  
"You see? The Acceptables got tired of the government always allowing Drakken to escape, always letting him and me try a new scheme to take over the world," Shego explained. "They decided that if the police couldn't keep me behind bars, they'd handle it themselves. And if I was out of the way, Drakken would never bother them again. I guess they were right."  
  
Kim folded her arms. "To be honest, Shego, it doesn't matter to me whether you're in a regular prison or an Acceptable one, just as long as what you described happened. No more Shego, no more Drakken, world a safer place."  
  
"Just like no more Señor Senior Junior, no more Señor Senior Senior, world a safer place," Shego muttered.  
  
"What did you just say?"  
  
"Oh, come on, Possible. You think I was the only person they built special holding cells for?" Shego asked sarcastically. "I mean, I'd like to say I was the only one, it makes me unique. No, they had Junior locked up too."  
  
Kim just stared. "But he's a lightweight! Why not lock up Frugal Lucre while they're at it? Why grab the son and not the father?"  
  
"What's the point of taking over the world if Senior doesn't have Junior to leave it to?" Shego asked quietly. "He doesn't have too many years left. The Acceptable Family captured his son, put him some place that not even the megabillionaire can rescue him from, and told Pops that if he continued trying to conquer the world, Junior would . . ."  
  
"Would what?" Kim asked, feeling the hairs stand up on the back of her neck.  
  
Shego flashed the claws on her left hand and drew them menacingly across her throat. "Señor Senior the First would become Senior the First and Last," she added.  
  
Kim shook her head vigorously. "Sorry, Shego, not buying it. The Acceptable Family are heroes, and they wouldn't threaten to _kill_ someone."  
  
"Why don't you ask them?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"They'll find me sooner or later," Shego said. "They probably picked up my trail by now, and they're going to know you're one of the only people I know in this part of the country. They'll drop by any day now looking for me. You could ask them then."  
  
"Or I could call them and tell them you're here," Kim replied.  
  
Shego had never shown the least bit of fear when fighting Kim, but the fright that flashed in Shego's eyes and quickly disappeared startled Kim.  
  
"I'll get away," Shego said, licking her lips.  
  
"I may have hung up my jet pack," Kim answered, "but I'm still as good a fighter as I was in high school. Whereas you look like a stiff breeze could knock you over, Shego. If I want you to stay, you'll stay."  
  
Shego lapsed into silence.  
  
"And even if I believe you when you say you and Junior were being held prisoner by the Acceptables," Kim continued, "I don't see why you think the world has to be saved from them."  
  
"Junior's not a prisoner, he's a hostage. And because the Acceptables aren't heroes," Shego said.  
  
"They're fighting evil!"  
  
"No, they're just eliminating the competition," Shego told her. "No other villains to share the world with, and no heroes - like you - to stop them. Today they're the Acceptable Family. Tomorrow the six of them could be the first Acceptable Dynasty."  
  
Kim looked at Shego doubtfully. What she was describing sounded somewhat plausible, if it wasn't so completely unbelievable, especially coming from someone like Shego. Then she blinked. "Six?"  
  
"Didn't you know? Mrs. Acceptable has a baby boy now, Tom R. Acceptable," Shego said. "That's all you care about? Out of everything I just said, you act like the most important thing is whether or not they got another visit from the stork?!" She looked disgusted. "I never expected you to turn into a civilian."   
  
"Then what were you expecting?" Kim asked. "Me to swallow everything you've told me? You couldn't beat them on your own, so you think I'll help you if I think they're bad. It sounds like you're the one trying to remove the competition, not them."  
  
"If you're not going to do anything," Shego said desperately, "then do nothing. Let me stay here tonight, Kim. I haven't slept more than two hours a night since I escaped. I still can't believe I even made it. I tried to escape six times the first year I was their prisoner, and they caught me every time before I made it outside. I had to make like a good little slave for the last couple years before they relaxed enough for me to break out." She glanced fearfully at the window. "Give me the rest of the night, and I'll leave in the morning."  
  
"I don't know, Shego," Kim replied doubtfully.  
  
"You just said I'm in no shape to beat a good wind," Shego reminded her. "How much of a danger do you think I am? I don't even have my gloves."  
  
"What happened to them?"  
  
"What do you think? The Acceptables have them. They wanted to study the technology."  
  
Kim knelt by the bed and said nothing for a minute. "Well, the window's already broken," she finally said. "So I guess there's no harm in you staying - if you promise not to try anything while I'm asleep."  
  
Shego exhaled. "I promise I won't bite the hand that feeds."  
  
"I hope you're not expecting breakfast now too."  
  
"So not."  
  
Kim eyed her suspiciously. "Well, all right. You'll have to help me move the bed and the dresser, though."  
  
Shego's strength wasn't much, but it was enough for Kim to get her dresser in front of the broken window. Then Kim got blankets and spread them out on the floor for her to sleep on. "Take that sweater off before you lie back down," Kim added. "I don't need it dirtying my sheets."  
  
The pale-skinned brunette shrugged and pulled it off, tossing it on the floor. She only had a black sports bra underneath, and the sight of her ribs clearly outlined through her skin made Kim wonder if perhaps she should get Shego breakfast in the morning after all. "I couldn't find anything from Club Banana," Shego mumbled as she sat on the bed.  
  
"We're the same height," Kim replied, wondering why she was saying this. "You can take something from my closet in the morning."  
  
"Beggars can't be choosers," Shego said grumpily.  
  
"And they don't bite the hand that feeds either," Kim reminded her.  
  
"I suppose you want a thank you," Shego spat.  
  
Kim sighed. "No big," she said before lying down.  
  
She expected falling asleep to be twice as hard this time, especially with concerns about having a woman who was once her mortal enemy sharing the room. But Kim fell asleep almost instantly.  
  
She didn't hear what sounded suspiciously like a "thank you" come from the bed a few minutes later.  
  
_________________________  
  
"Wade, what's the sitch?" Kim Possible asked as she received the incoming transmission just as she was sitting down in the cafeteria. She waved at a couple other girls who had also come directly from practice before staring intently at her Kimmunicator.  
  
"Not much," Wade replied. He'd taken nothing but computer courses and graduated in less than two years, allowing him to retreat to his computer-filled lab once more. "Shego was last reported committing a break-in about four years ago. The Acceptable Family was later commended for its role in thwarting the robbery, but no mention is made of Shego's whereabouts, or even whether she was apprehended or not. That's the last I could find on her. If she was imprisoned at any penal institution or mental hospital in the world, I'd have found it by now."  
  
"So it's still possible she's telling the truth," Kim said, shaking her head. Honestly, she'd been hoping for proof that Shego was lying. It would make her life easier.  
  
Since when had she wanted life to be easy? Maybe Shego was right. Maybe she _was_ a civilian.  
  
"Where is she now?" Wade asked.  
  
"Still in my room," Kim replied. "I told her I'd bring food back before she left. I've seen stray dogs looking better than her, Wade. I can't throw her out like that."  
  
"If you say so," Wade said. "But I've never unearthed any hints that the Acceptables aren't on the straight and narrow. They're certainly wealthy, considering the parents are full-time crime fighters, but that doesn't mean anything other than it allowed them to find new digs."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"They sold their old house in Middleton," Wade told her. "And I can't find any records that say where they live now. I guess in their line of work, it's sensible to conclude that you're better off if no one knows where you live."  
  
"I guess," Kim agreed, but she considered this new tidbit that, if not exactly proving what Shego had said, certainly made it sound slightly less crazy. "You haven't told Ron, right?"  
  
"You said not to. But he's got almost as much experience with Shego as you. Shouldn't he be . . ."  
  
"As I live and breathe, is that Kim Possible?"  
  
Kim's head snapped up and, inexplicably, she felt her stomach drop. "Let me call you back, Wade," she said before turning the transmitter off. "What are you guys doing here?"  
  
John Acceptable sat across from her while his older brother Don looked on. "We're doing a little research, a little looking around. Colleges are good for that kind of thing, aren't they? They're chock full of information."  
  
The years had suited John better than Don. John had sat down with fluid grace that practically emanated from his body. His blond hair dangled fashionably on his forehead. Girls were crazy about his looks, and he was known to return the favor. He was crazy about his looks too.  
  
Don only had two looks - the "intense bad cop" look and the "staring at a computer screen until I pop a blood vessel in my eye" look. His poor complexion and eyeglasses, while typical of brilliant computer nerds like himself, couldn't hide his muscular frame, however. He could pound the keyboard and the pavement with equal ease.  
  
"You're both out of high school," Kim observed. "Why aren't you at colleges of your own?"  
  
"We don't really have time for college," Don replied. "Too busy saving the world. You remember how that is, right?"  
  
"It was a long time ago, big brother," John pointed out.  
  
"I still remember," Kim said irritably. "And I didn't have a problem fitting high school _and_ cheerleading in, either. Well, not usually."  
  
"Yeah, but our parents can teach us anything we need to know," John responded. "They always have."  
  
"Then why the research?" Kim asked, smiling now.  
  
He shrugged. "Might as well come clean with you, Kim. We always were on the same side after all," he said, returning her smile. "We have reason to believe an old friend of yours is on this very campus. I realize it's been years . . ."  
  
"Remember Shego?" Don asked bluntly, cutting his brother off.  
  
"Why?" Kim asked.  
  
"She escaped from a government military installation," Don said, taking over the conversation from his brother now that it had moved on from chatting to facts. "Top-secret, very hush hush. Apparently Shego isn't exactly in her right mind compared to when you knew her. They've asked us to find her. Her trail led us west, and since you two have a history . . ."  
  
"We weren't friends, we were bitter enemies," Kim reminded them, even as she rapidly digested Don's remarks. Wade hadn't found any records of her incarceration, but there had to be one or two branches of the government that not even Wade could break into. Maybe Shego had gotten mixed up in a matter of national security? "Why would she come to me?"  
  
Better yet, why hadn't she already told them where Shego was? Was it perhaps because something in her brain kept nagging at her, telling her she wasn't getting the whole story?  
  
"Beats us," John said before Don could respond. "We're just running down all possible leads. Besides, we wanted to know what you've been up to."  
  
"Well, I don't know where she is," Kim told them. "But I wouldn't be surprised if you tracked her down any day now. She's just one person, not six like your family."  
  
"I think Tommy is too little to get a crack at Shego just yet," John said, grinning. "Real soon, though."  
  
Shego had been right about the new baby, Kim realized, and either John and Don hadn't caught Kim's slip, or . . .  
  
"You know what, I'm not hungry after all," she told them, "and I have a test I want to cram for back at my dorm room. But hey, it was great seeing you two again, and be sure to tell your parents and Yvonne that I said hey."  
  
"Come on, we just got here," John said, looking injured. "Can't we catch up for a few minutes, reminisce? You were the inspiration for our whole family, Kim."  
  
Kim didn't like his smile today. It seemed insincere and somehow sinister, especially when she'd mentioned their sister. Of course, maybe it was just her. Maybe her impression was colored by her growing suspicion that these two were stalling her while something happened elsewhere. "Glad I could be a - role model for your family, John," she said hurriedly as she stood up. "But you know, there's always e-mail, so I hope you catch Shego before she hurts someone, I really do."  
  
She didn't even hear what the Acceptable brothers said to her as she took her backpack and walked briskly from the cafeteria toward her dorm room.  
  
Shego had really done a number on her, Kim told herself as she rushed back to her dormitory. She'd spun this elaborate, completely absurd conspiracy theory, and now she was hiding a convicted criminal from the most successful crimefighter team in history.  
  
She could hear Ron's voice in her head. "They're cool and all," Ron had said years ago, "but no one will ever be as good as Team Possible."  
  
Kim took the stairs two at a time to the third floor, opened the stairwell door, and entered the corridor.  
  
Then she froze.  
  
Shego was arched painfully backwards, swaying on her heels, as someone held her from behind. A face swathed in blonde curls appeared at Shego's shoulder. "Kim Possible," Yvonne Acceptable purred. "Sorry, I messed your room up a little. But thanks for leading us to her."  
  
"You bitch!" Shego shouted helplessly. "You said you wouldn't!"  
  
"She kept her promise, sort of," John Acceptable said as he and his brother appeared behind Kim.  
  
Kim backed against the wall so she could keep an eye on all three Acceptables equally. "What are you talking about?"  
  
Don held up a device in his hand. "Your friend Wade should really upgrade his systems. We had his computers under surveillance, and when you contacted him earlier this morning, we got here as soon as we could."  
  
"You hacked into my Kimmunicator?" Kim asked, outraged.   
  
"It's a piece of junk, Possible," Don sneered. "It's about ten upgrades behind the times."  
  
"Stay out of our way, Kim," John warned her. "We never imagined it would come to this, Shego," John then told the weakly struggling woman, as Yvonne held her all the more tightly. "You'd been such a good little girl these past couple years. My father was sure you were broken."  
  
"If I survived Kim Possible all that time," Shego snarled at him, "then I can certainly survive that torture chamber you call a home."  
  
"Maybe so, but there's one thing even you can't survive, Shego," John told her.  
  
"What?"  
  
John's hand moved so quickly that Kim never even saw where the gun came from.  
  
"Death," he said, his smile lighting up his face.  
  
To be continued . . . 


	3. Chapter Three

Title: An Unacceptable Sitch (3/??)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: None that I can think of.  
  
Feedback: As this is my first story in a fandom I've only begun following in the last month, I hope everyone will give me their opinions.  
  
Disclaimers: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Shego, Wade, and all other characters from the Kim Possible television series belong to Disney, its television production arm, and the creators and producers of the animated series. I seek no profit from writing this, and expect none.  
  
Summary: Kim and Ron are twenty-one and living apart at college, while Team Possible has been replaced by an entire crime-fighting family. But Kim finds the original is usually still the best after a surprise visit from a desperate former enemy.   
  
_____________________  
  
Chapter 3  
  
On one level, Kim was completely shocked by the sight of John Acceptable pointing a handgun at Shego with every indication of shooting her.  
  
As a teenage heroine, Kim had been able to respond instantly to emergencies, no matter how surprised she might be. Even though that had been years ago, however, Kim had found ways to maintain her skills.  
  
One difference between college-Kim and high school-Kim was the fact that college-Kim wasn't a cheerleader. When she'd encountered the broad range of women's sports at the university, Kim had decided she didn't have to cheer others on any more. She would be the one getting the cheers. Possibly her retirement from fighting evil had something to do with it.  
  
Whatever her reasons, at this time of year Kim was on the women's varsity volleyball team. She wasn't captain yet, but she felt she would be when the current captain graduated at the end of the year. Being a star volleyball player required a laundry list of talents - reaction time, hand-eye coordination, leaping ability, upper body strength, teamwork, communication skills, and so on. Kim suspected her ability to react to sudden changes had even gotten better since her teen years.  
  
So when John drew his gun, Kim's body responded as instinctively as she might when she was on the front line and a spike came her way. She raised her arm and hurled the bookbag in her hand with great force. It flew through the air and hit John in the wrist, making him cry out. The gun pointed down at the floor and a bullet rang loudly, burying itself in the thin carpeting.  
  
"You stupid cow!" Yvonne screeched at her.  
  
Kim was already racing toward Shego and the blonde Acceptable. Yvonne had forced Shego forward slightly, anticipating the bullet. Shego had stumbled ahead, unable to stop herself. But now Kim grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her back toward Yvonne. The Acceptable daughter couldn't respond fast enough as Kim struck her in the neck with a blow of the hand (thanks in part to intramural karate).  
  
"This is not Acceptable!" Don shouted at his siblings. "Stop them both!"  
  
"So not," Kim agreed under her breath as she pulled Shego around the corner and kept running. This was as unacceptable as it got.  
  
Shego appeared to be almost in a daze, but when the noise of a second shot rang out from behind them, it woke her up. "Shit!" she swore. "They're firing at us! They're firing at you!" she added, sounding surprised.  
  
"It's nice to be part of the group," Kim muttered, still reeling in the back of her head. The gun could have been for show, and it could have gone off when she hit him in the hand. But that second bullet could only mean that they were really trying to - kill Shego. And it was important enough that they were willing to kill her too, and in a college dormitory where anyone could see them.  
  
Maybe they were willing to kill witnesses too.  
  
  
  
"There's too many people around," Kim said as they hit the stairwell and hurried down. "We've got to get out of here."  
  
"Maybe getting away from the people trying to kill us is another reason!" Shego snarled at her.  
  
"That too," Kim said.  
  
Just as they pushed through the exit and found themselves outside, there was a shattering above them and specks of glass rained down. John Acceptable somersaulted through the air and landed perfectly in front of them. "Nice form, huh?" he asked.  
  
"I almost forgot how shamelessly the Acceptable brats fight for their parents' approval," Shego said. "You want Kimmie's too? Pathetic."  
  
"Are you sure you want to save her?" John asked, grinning nastily.  
  
"No, but I have to. Heroes save people. They don't kill them," Kim replied sternly.  
  
"Blah, blah, blah," Shego said, kicking her foot upward in John's direction.  
  
John had been expecting the attack from Kim, not the frail Shego, and he was caught by surprise. The pain blossomed through his entire body as her pointed boot, borrowed from Kim's closet, connected solidly with his privates. His voice wavered weakly as his hands drifted downwards and he collapsed in front of them.  
  
"Fighting rule number one," Shego told him as she ran past him. "All men have one very, very weak spot."  
  
Kim actually trailed behind for a second as she stared at the Acceptable brother. "So you're not completely broken down," Kim said as she caught up with Shego quickly.  
  
"Just don't ask me to do it again," Shego replied, beginning to perspire heavily.  
  
"We can't take my car, because they'll be able to track it by the license plate," Kim thought out loud as she heard Don and Yvonne bursting out behind them. "We'll need someone else's."  
  
She practically dragged Shego across the lawn to a nearby parking lot and located a car that looked fast without having a hundred thousand miles on it. Kim winced slightly as she pulled her elbow back and smashed it hard through the driver's-side window. Then she reached in, unlocked it, opened it, and threw Shego in first. Shego barely had time to crawl into the passenger seat as Kim shoved inside after her.  
  
"I'll do it," Shego said as Kim ripped the outer layer away from the steering column.  
  
"I can do it," Kim replied sharply as she fiddled with the wiring and got the car to start in just a few seconds.  
  
"You can hot-wire a car?" Shego asked, surprised.  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's just you're Little Miss All-American who doesn't have a lawbreaking bone in her body."  
  
Kim put the car in reverse and screeched out of the parking space. "I'm not always that nice," she said vaguely as she rammed the stick into drive and sped out of the parking lot. Her hair whipped behind her as the air blew through the broken window.  
  
Shego winced as she picked up a shard and inspected the cut on her finger. "I'm getting really tired of broken glass," she mumbled.  
  
"I'm surprised they're not following us," Kim said, glancing at both rearview mirrors.  
  
"They have their ways," Shego replied darkly.  
  
____________________  
  
Don Acceptable removed the special visor he'd put on. "I only got the first three letters on the license plate, but I also got the make and model," he said.  
  
"I'll make sure the area police release an All Points Bulletin within five minutes," Mrs. Acceptable's voice answered on the receiver in his ear.  
  
"It doesn't matter," Don said. "There's nowhere Possible can hide from us. Even if she could somehow get back to Middleton, we'll be watching her family and friends. And the local and federal governments listen to us, not a has-been like Kim Possible."  
  
"True enough," his mother said. "How is your brother?"  
  
Don looked back at John, who was stretched out on the hood of another car, resting. "His balls are a little blue," Don told his mother, smiling slightly.  
  
"Your sense of humor is unappreciated," Mrs. Acceptable said icily. "Your failure to apprehend Shego is completely embarrassing. The three of you are the foremost team in the world, and you allowed a girl who probably hasn't swung a punch in five years to elude you all."  
  
"That girl seems to have sprained John's wrist," Yvonne interrupted on the frequency as she examined him.  
  
"Kim Possible will die," John said through gritted teeth, an angry sulk on his face.  
  
"Kim Possible will die if your father and I feel it is necessary," their mother warned him. "Focus your killing thoughts on Shego. She _must_ die. We have no idea what she knows, but if Possible is helping her, it must be important. She might even know about Thomas."  
  
"She couldn't," Don scoffed.  
  
"She shouldn't have escaped either," Yvonne muttered.  
  
"Precisely," Mrs. Acceptable said. "You _will_ kill Shego, and you will take Possible into custody. We will decide whether she's too great a liability. And John - just wait until I tell your father."  
  
John flinched, and laughter danced in Yvonne's eyes.  
  
Don grunted and massaged the back of his neck. "If Shego thinks she'll get away from us, then maybe we should change her friend's name to Kim Plausible."  
  
__________________________  
  
"Thanks for the transport, Captain," Kim said. The words sounded bizarre coming out of her mouth. Had it only been two days ago that she and Ron had talked about not needing to borrow rides from people they'd helped, now that they had driver's licenses?  
  
A car wouldn't get them where they were going, however, and she'd abandoned the other car not long after she'd stolen it.  
  
"How could I not, Kim Possible?" Captain Solomentsev replied in his thick Russian accent. "It was your bravery five years ago that returned our nuclear core to this submarine, the pride of Mother Russia's navy. It was a little thing to pick you on your California beaches and take you where you are going."  
  
Kim nodded. It had been one of the last "hits" on her site before the Acceptables showed up. If it had been an American sub, she would have looked elsewhere, what with the Acceptables' connections to the government.  
  
What people had she relinquished Team Possible's status to? She didn't know if Shego was right about the Family's plans to take over the world, but they had tried to kill Shego, and this struck her as completely unprofessional. It was what made them different from the Drakkens of the world.  
  
That and normal skin with a healthy color.  
  
She thought of Shego and turned to look at her, curled up in a chair staring out into nothing.  
  
The captain seemed to follow her eyes. "It is odd," he mused. "The female who stole our power source looked somewhat like her. Not so scrawny, though."  
  
"Oh, no, that's not her," Kim laughed nervously. She'd forgotten that.  
  
Solomentsev tapped his chin. "Wait, I remember. You had that sidekick too. I thought it was a boy. What was the name again?" He shrugged. "I trust you and your quiet friend will find what you are looking for when you arrive."  
  
Shego closed her eyes and buried her face in her knees.  
  
"I hope so too," Kim said. She had nowhere else to go. She hadn't even bothered to use the Kimmunicator again. She'd just mailed it to her parents' home, afraid the Acceptables could somehow trace its location, as well as hack into its transmissions. And she had made one or two alterations which she trusted Wade could figure out. Even if the Acceptables intercepted it, Kim doubted they would understand.   
  
She had been away at school for a couple months, but she'd never felt so sick for home as she did right now. Kim trusted that the Acceptables were only watching her family for now, hoping for information. But she worried that they might do something more aggressive if she was gone for too long.  
  
Kim and Shego. She wished she had someone like Monique with her, or Ron. This was Team Possible stuff, and half the team - two-thirds if you counted Rufus - wasn't there.  
  
She felt like imitating Shego, but standing as she was, she couldn't exactly reach her knees. She put her fingers to the bridge of her nose instead.  
  
________________________  
  
Kim waved from the beach as the submarine's conning tower vanished beneath the water.  
  
"I've been confused with Ron Stoppable," Shego growled behind her. Dark clouds practically hovered over her. "My humiliation is complete."  
  
"After all this time, I think you'd have learned not to underestimate Ron," Kim told her, annoyed.  
  
"Where the hell are we, anyway?" Shego asked, already bored with Ron as a topic of discussion.  
  
"The private island," Kim replied, "of Señor Senior Senior."  
  
Shego stared at her. "Are you crazy?! He'll kill you!"  
  
"If the Acceptable Family has done to him what you say they've done," Kim said, "then he'll jump at the chance to help one of their enemies. Even if I used to be one of his. Besides, the idea of me taking refuge at a villain's lair is something the Acceptables will never think of."  
  
"That's assuming he gives you a chance to tell him what's happened," Shego retorted.  
  
"It's no big," Kim said. "He's a traditionalist. The rules have to be observed." She began walking toward the fortress-like manor home.  
  
A blast of energy hit Kim so suddenly that Shego's breath was taken away as quickly as Kim's was. Her head snapped around and saw the laser cannon that had materialized from the earth in mere moments.  
  
"The first shot was only meant to stun you, Kim Possible," Senior's voice said, emanating from hidden speakers. It was more like a whisper now, but it was definitely him. And what he said was evidently true, because Kim was still moving, albeit flopping around on the ground. "The next shots will kill you both."  
  
Kim groaned. "Not very honorable, Señor Senior Senior," she managed to say.  
  
"Honor?" he replied, enraged. "You heroes have lost all concept of the meaning of honor. If you are going to play without the handbook for our two sides, then neither am I. You and your friend can leave or die."  
  
Something snapped in Shego and she stalked closer to Kim. "She is not my _friend_!!!" she screamed.  
  
The cannon did not fire. "Shego?" Senior asked after a moment, startled. "You are not looking well."  
  
"Neither is your son," Shego replied.  
  
A video camera flew into view and stopped several inches from Shego's face. "You have seen my son?" he said. Now his voice was in an agony of anticipation. "Is he alive?"  
  
"He was alive when I escaped from the Acceptables' enforced hospitality last week," Shego told him.  
  
"So, you too," Senior answered. "And now you appear on my property with your most hated foe. I must know why you are here. I demand - no, insist - that you join me for dinner."  
  
"Since we're here to see you," Kim said as she struggled onto her knees, "I don't think we'll decline."  
  
The laser drew near. "I don't think you'll decline either," he responded coldly.  
  
"Could you give me a hand?" Kim asked Shego.  
  
Shego muttered something and yanked Kim onto her feet by the arm. "There," she said. "Don't thank me."  
  
"Don't worry," Kim said as she inspected the bruises Shego's fingers left on her arm with a surprisingly strong grip.  
  
_________________________  
  
"So you and my son were fellow prisoners," Senior said as he entered the dining room into which Kim and Shego had been led by armed servants. Whereas once he'd used a cane, now Senior depended on a motorized wheelchair. He'd been an older man when Kim saw him last, but the last five years had treated him poorly. "Did you speak often?"  
  
"Not really," Shego replied. "He was kept in a different wing. We were taken past each other's cells for our monthly . . . interrogations."  
  
Kim raised an eyebrow. "What could you possibly tell them after years in captivity?" she asked.  
  
Shego looked down. "It wasn't really about gathering information," she murmured.  
  
Kim's cheeks colored. "Oh," she said apologetically.  
  
The brunette waved her off as she sat down.  
  
Senior Senior smiled mirthlessly. "Did they use electrocution?" he asked.  
  
"Sometimes. Why?"  
  
"I thought so," he said as he took his seat at the head of the table. "Sometimes there would be these odd charges for electricity. I suspected as much."  
  
"I don't understand," Kim said.  
  
"Undoubtedly," Senior said to Shego, "you deduced that they were holding my son as an - inducement not to continue with my attempts to dominate the world."  
  
"I figured," she replied.  
  
Senior nodded. "Did you ever try to escape before your recent success?"  
  
"Six times," she admitted, "in the first year. They were all disasters."  
  
"Just so, while you were within, trying to get out, I was out, trying to get in," he told them. "I made four attacks on their facility in the first nine months after my son was taken. All were repulsed without much difficulty. I think I may have amused them at first," Senior hissed, gripping his fork tightly. "Eventually, however, they warned me another attempt would result in his death. And," he added dryly, "they sent me the bill."  
  
"The bill?" Shego asked, confused. Kim felt equally bewildered.  
  
"Yes, the bill," Senior replied. "They said it was something I was assuredly used to. They charged me for the damages inflicted on their home. And every month they have charged me for my son's . . . room and board," he grumbled.  
  
"You mean they're making you pay your son's RENT?" Kim said, shocked.  
  
"You say it plainly, and correctly," Senior said. "They are most insistent landlords, and wildly inflationary. I would say the average month's extortion is in the neighborhood of a quarter million dollars. A little thing, true, but it adds a greater edge to my pain."  
  
Kim was aghast. "They've blackmailed you for over ten million dollars! That's how they pay for all their technology!"  
  
"They have other prisoners I don't know," Shego said. "Maybe you're not the only one footing their utility bills."  
  
Senior nodded. "So, before you begin eating the fine repast I am having set down in front of us, tell me, Kim Possible. Why do you come to my home, and with Shego rather than that boy - what was his name?"  
  
"Ron Stoppable," Kim said, sighing, while Shego slavered as she looked hungrily at the food on her plate. "And he can't be with me right now. He's probably under surveillance. The Acceptable Family is trying to kill Shego, and maybe me too."  
  
"And so you come to hide?" Senior asked, surprised.  
  
"For now," Kim replied. "But now I have a plan."  
  
Shego grabbed her steak with her hands, not even bothering with silverware, and began devouring the meat.  
  
"Team Possible is coming out of retirement," Kim continued, trying not to look at Shego, "and my first mission is serving notice to the Acceptables. I've decided they're no longer worthy of being heroes. Sometimes the first is the best." Only now did she look at Shego. "I'm going to fight them. And Shego is going to fight alongside me."  
  
The other woman almost choked. "With you?" she asked, spitting her food out. "So NOT!"  
  
To be continued . . . 


	4. Chapter Four

Title: An Unacceptable Sitch (4/??)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: None that I can think of.  
  
Feedback: As this is my first story in a fandom I've only begun following in the last month, I hope everyone will give me their opinions.  
  
Disclaimers: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Shego, Wade, and all other characters from the Kim Possible television series belong to Disney, its television production arm, and the creators and producers of the animated series. I seek no profit from writing this, and expect none.  
  
Summary: Kim and Ron are twenty-one and living apart at college, while Team Possible has been replaced by an entire crime-fighting family. But Kim finds the original is usually still the best after a surprise visit from a desperate former enemy.   
  
_____________________  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Shego looked about her in dismay. "Couldn't you have given us, I don't know, rooms in different _wings_?"  
  
"I am sorry, Shego," Senior replied gravely, although Kim suspected from the look in his eye that he was highly entertained by the two women coexisting in close quarters. "But long ago I converted much of my home from a retiree's mansion to a base of operations for a would-be conqueror. You will have to suffer through adjoining rooms for now."  
  
Kim had quietly but insistently requested that they be placed in neighboring rooms while they remained there. Part of her was amazed at her own effrontery in demanding specific accommodations from a host, especially one who had been an enemy many times in another life. But Señor Senior Senior continued to be amused and intrigued by her, and he had granted the request.  
  
Besides, the definition of "enemy" was in flux these days.  
  
"I have left you a gift, Shego," Senior added before he left. "It is in your closet. You left it here the last time. For some reason I never discarded it."  
  
Shego stopped and looked at him. "You mean . . ."  
  
"You will have to make do without the gloves, I'm afraid," he warned her. "The technology could have shorted out and started a fire." He nodded to Kim. "Let us retire and dream of vengeance. You'll find it is a heady brew, Kim Possible."  
  
Kim saw that Shego didn't even bother to say good night as she rushed into the next set of rooms, connected to Kim's by a door which could be locked on either side.  
  
When Kim followed her inside, Shego looked almost delirious as she held the green-and-black outfit to her body. It was still on the hangar. "I haven't worn this in years," she said. "All the villains have their boring outfits, all symmetry and monochrome. I dress in style! My clothes let people know that I am chaos. I am anarchy." She glanced at Kim. "Do you mind?"  
  
"I am ego with a capital S-H," Kim thought, shrugging as she turned around.  
  
There was only the rustle of fabric for a minute as Kim waited for Shego to tell her she could turn around. There was no reply, however, and Kim sighed, knowing that Shego was just jerking her chain.  
  
She heard something then. It sounded almost alien.  
  
Kim turned around and saw that Shego was crying silently.  
  
"Shego?" she asked, shocked.  
  
Her outfit used to be form fitting, but Shego had lost enough weight over the past few years that it hung limply in various places. She looked like a girl in her mother's dress. "I'm pathetic," Shego said, almost to herself rather than Kim. "I'm stupid and I'm weak and I'm such an embarrassment to what I used to be . . . if I had known this would be this way, I never would have escaped."  
  
"Shego . . ." Kim began uncertainly.  
  
"Shove it! Just shove it, Possible," Shego spat at her. "You're still Miss Perfect and I'm not even me anymore. I'm this big nothing - no wonder you helped me. You must love this," she said hatefully.  
  
"Yeah, really," Kim shot back sarcastically. "I'm cut off from my family and my friends. I'm going to have to forget about finishing any of my classes this semester. And I'm alone with two people who've tried to kill me in the past. But it's all worth it just to see you blubbering." Kim glared at her. "Are you sure you're not Shego? Because you're still a total bitch."  
  
Shego screamed and leapt toward her. Kim, however, calmly stepped aside and allowed Shego to lurch past her, almost hitting the wall.  
  
Leaning against the wall with both hands, Shego looked back at her with loathing. "If I had my claws - "  
  
"You couldn't beat me with your claws when you were in shape," Kim reminded her. "If you had your gloves, you'd just hurt yourself with them. That could change, but you're being such a pain in the rear that I don't think I'm up for it any more."  
  
"Change? Up for what?" Shego asked suspiciously.  
  
"We're obviously not going anywhere for a while," Kim told her. "And if you're going to help me stop the Acceptables, you need to work yourself back into shape. I figure a month should do."  
  
Shego's expression could curdle milk. "You keep saying I'm going to help you," she muttered.  
  
"Uh, hello!" Kim said. "Exactly what did you expect to happen now?"  
  
"You're supposed to be helping me," Shego said petulantly.  
  
Kim slapped her hand over her eyes. "Which is more hateful to you? The Acceptables hunting you down and killing you, or being my partner?"  
  
Shego appeared to be thinking about it.  
  
"Damn you, Shego," Kim said. "We have to help each other. Ron can't be here. Even if Wade has it figured out where we are, there's no way Ron, or my parents, or anybody close to me can get here. The Acceptables are going to be watching their every move, and if one of them disappears, either they'll track that person down and find us, or they'll do something to the others. I don't even have a Kimmunicator now."  
  
"Don't even think about asking me to be your Ron," Shego hissed. "I've been mistaken for him once already."  
  
"This isn't about sidekicks," Kim replied, although Shego hadn't minded being known as Drakken's sidekick once. "I said 'partners'. Come on, Shego," she added, throwing in a dash of flattery. "After all the times we fought to a draw in the old days? You think I see you as a decoy?"  
  
In the old days? Had Kim said that? She sounded like her father!  
  
"I don't just remember draws," Shego said haughtily as she pulled herself stiffly, her pride slowly resurrecting itself.  
  
Neither did Kim, but now wasn't the time to remind Shego of all the times she'd lost.  
  
"But," Shego continued helplessly, "I've turned into such a weakling."  
  
"Then our first order of business is getting that outfit to fit again," Kim replied, allowing herself to feel sympathy for the distressed former villain. "We need to put you on a weight-gain regimen, followed by steady exercise to rebuild your muscles, and lastly sparring to shake the rust off those fighting skills of yours. And mine," she added ruefully. Sports and self-defense classes were one thing, but the adrenaline of fighting for your life was quite another, and Kim knew she wasn't at the level she'd been as a teenager.  
  
She was in her prime, however, and Kim hoped that she could be even stronger at her peak now than she'd been five years ago.  
  
Shego's shoulders dropped slightly. "All right," she said. Then she looked in the mirror. "I used to look so good in this," she sighed.  
  
"You did," Kim agreed.  
  
"Excuse me?" Shego asked.  
  
"Well, Ron certainly seemed to think so," Kim replied quickly.  
  
"Hmph. That sounded almost like a compliment," Shego said.  
  
"All I'm hoping for is being able to trust each other a little," Kim told her.  
  
"Fat chance," Shego muttered.  
  
She was probably right, Kim thought.  
  
______________________  
  
"So what have we learned?" Kim asked a couple days later, mimicking something Shego had said to Drakken once or twice.  
  
Shego looked at her sullenly and casually drank more of her protein shake through a straw. "That the Acceptables fight as a team," she finally muttered.  
  
"And if we're going to beat them, you and I will also have to work together as a . . ."  
  
"Team," Shego mumbled.  
  
Kim nodded, satisfied for now. "Don is the strongest, but he's also the slowest. John is definitely the quickest, but it looks like Yvonne is stronger than him too. They complement each other's skills perfectly."  
  
They'd reviewed digital footage of the Acceptable Family that had Senior had gathered over the years for his attempts to rescue Junior. They'd reviewed for two days, in fact, leaving Kim wondering how football players did it in college.  
  
Kim hadn't seen enough of their fighting skills, since they had a tendency of arriving, cleaning up, and leaving before she even got to the action. What she saw worried her. They'd be outnumbered three to two, even if Shego returned to top form. And she doubted they would allow Ron to be much of a distraction.  
  
"I wonder why John used a gun that day," Kim thought out loud.  
  
"What?"  
  
"From what I've seen, Don is the one who likes to use lasers and other fired weapons. Even Yvonne uses a staff or a knife, but John only seems to fight with his bare hands. So why was he the one to shoot at you that day in the college?"  
  
Shego looked down. "John likes to see people in pain," she said quietly. "And he likes to see people die. I think he wanted to see my brains splattered all over the hallway."  
  
Kim said nothing at first. Since mentioning that she'd been "interrogated" monthly, Shego had not brought this up again. Kim realized it was quite likely that John had been the one who tortured her - perhaps as many as fifty times or more over a four-year period. While Kim wasn't sure _how_ she felt about Shego any more, she did know that nobody deserved that kind of treatment.  
  
She also realized that Shego knew things that no tapes could tell them. "Shego," she began carefully, "you saw a lot from your cell, didn't you?"  
  
"Some," Shego replied.  
  
"What can you tell me about this family that the footage can't?" Kim asked gingerly.  
  
Shego didn't respond. Instead she sucked the last of her shake dry, stood up, and walked out.  
  
"Uh boy," Kim muttered as she followed her.  
  
Before she could ask again, Shego whirled on her. "They beat me," she said icily. "I was burned and cut and three of my fingers were broken. They didn't heal one hundred percent, as you may have noticed." She shoved her left hand in Kim's face.  
  
Kim had not in fact noticed, but now she saw that three of Shego's knuckles looked swollen. It interfered with her ability to make a fist.  
  
"Why did they beat you?" Kim asked. She hadn't meant for Shego to feel that this needed to be aired, but evidently it was the window Shego was providing her.  
  
"Because they couldn't beat their parents," Shego told her.  
  
Kim waited a moment before taking Shego by her left hand and leading her outside. For whatever reason, Shego didn't put up a fight. She went to the pool in the center courtyard, where the sun shone down on them. Kim knew that Shego, for a woman who looked like she'd never have a tan her entire life, preferred being out in the sunlight. She found a seat and invited Shego to sit across from her.  
  
Shego did so, looking at Kim uncertainly.  
  
"I need to know their weaknesses, Shego," Kim said. "Believe me, I don't want to hear about how they hurt you, any more than you want to tell me. But from what little I've heard you say, the Acceptables are somewhat, let's say, dysfunctional?"  
  
Shego laughed mirthlessly. "Yeah, you could say that," she replied.  
  
"Well, without going into details about what they made you go through," Kim said gently, "what can you tell me about them as people? Where are the chinks in their suits of armor? Who are the Acceptables? If they're not heroes, then what?"  
  
Shego lay back and adjusted the beach chair she was sitting on so that she was now lying horizontally. She turned her head to the side so that she was looking into neither the sun nor Kim's eyes. Kim understood that she was remembering bad times, and she waited patiently for her to be ready.  
  
"Mrs. Acceptable is the most dangerous," Shego told her neutrally.  
  
"Not the father?"  
  
"Oh, he's dangerous. He's dangerous because he's prone to going completely nuts," Shego said. "But his wife is completely ruthless. The kids are afraid of their father, because he can dream up ingeniously vicious punishments when they make minor mistakes. But they hate their mother because she's so good at pushing Mr. Acceptable's buttons. Those days when the father is relatively normal and inclined to let something go, Mrs. Acceptable will drive him into a state of absolute rage, and then she unleashes him on the children. He's the rabid dog, and she's the one with the leash."  
  
"Why does she do such things?" Kim asked. The way she sat asking questions while Shego was lying down suddenly made her feel like a psychiatrist. As long as this was therapeutic, she thought.  
  
"She's ambitious for the kids, but more for herself," Shego told her. "I don't think she could accept not being head of the family. Some day they're going to be too old, and the kids will push them aside, so she tries to delay the inevitable. Sometimes, from the things John says while he's . . ."  
  
"You don't have to go on," Kim said, although really she did.  
  
"I don't think the 'rents will be golfing in Florida some day," Shego did in fact continue. "I think when the second generation is old enough, they're going to eliminate their parents from the Family, whether the parents want to go or not."  
  
Kim shook her head. Suddenly she missed her parents and her brothers, in all their normalcy and their love for each other, that much more.  
  
"It's probably a good thing you retired, Kimmie," Shego added, looking at her finally.  
  
"Why?" Kim asked curiously.  
  
"Because those kids don't take kindly to competition. They even view each other as competition for future control of the Acceptable Family. If the parents couldn't hold them in check, they'd probably stab each other in the back. A stranger like you would have received no mercy. If you hadn't gotten out when you did, John or one of the others would have persuaded you otherwise," Shego answered.  
  
Kim suspected "persuade" had a different meaning in the Acceptable household, like "interrogate". She ignored the goosebumps that crept up along her arm. "Anything else?" she forced herself to ask.  
  
"Yeah, their vanity," Shego said after a moment. "It's very important to them that the world go on thinking like you did, that they're the good guys. They want the rest of the world to rely on them, so the family can royally screw them some day. They won't do anything that might jeopardize their image, unless they feel they have no choice." She stopped. "I'm hungry," she added.  
  
"You've been eating like a pig," Kim said, unable to resist.  
  
"You're the one who put me on this diet!" Shego retorted. She had fleshed out slightly, though.  
  
"I think tomorrow we can start working on converting that flab to muscle," Kim replied coolly.  
  
Shego glared murderously and stalked off.  
  
Kim heard the tiniest sound and looked up. High above them, Señor Senior Senior sat on his balcony and laughed quietly. "You are a cruel master, Kim Possible," he called down to her. "Perhaps I should have asked you to teach my son all those years ago instead of her? What did he call you again? His blue fox?"  
  
She flushed and ran after Shego.  
  
_______________________  
  
"No sign of them," Mr. Acceptable said calmly as he sat at the head of the table.  
  
His three oldest children looked at him nervously. Their father's calm moments were his most deceptive ones.  
  
"A prisoner who never should have escaped, and a girl who has not thrown a punch in five years," the father continued, while his wife sat primly at the other end of the table, holding a small infant in her arms. "And they elude all three of you."  
  
"They've eluded you and Mother too," Yvonne shot back.  
  
Mr. Acceptable idly pushed a button on his chair. Yvonne felt a familiar, if still painful, jolt run through her chair and into her body for a second. She jerked in her seat and squirmed when it was over. Don and John looked down to hide their smiles.  
  
It wasn't enough. "What are the two of you smiling about?" Mrs. Acceptable asked mildly.  
  
"Were they smiling, dear?" her husband asked.  
  
She smiled the peaceful smile of a holy man, and John's eyes flashed hatefully at her. "I'm not sure they understand the gravity of this matter."  
  
The father pushed a couple more buttons, and this time it was John who leapt in his seat, while Don hunkered down and shook defiantly.  
  
"They can't stay in hiding forever," Yvonne pointed out. "And we have Possible's family under constant surveillance, as well as Ron Stoppable, his family, and their little computer buddy."  
  
"If they don't make contact," Don added darkly, "we can step up the surveillance a little."  
  
"Surveillance is a lot easier when you have someone behind bars," John said, grinning again.  
  
"Is there anyone we've overlooked?" Mr. Acceptable asked.  
  
"Not that we know of," Don replied. "She had other friends in high school, but she doesn't appear to have had more than monthly contact with any of them since graduation. We gave a few of them a cursory glance, and none of them appear to be acting out of the ordinary."  
  
"She must have had resources for such an emergency as this," the father reasoned. "Surely that amateur Stoppable would know, if anyone did."  
  
"With those big flapping lips of his," Yvonne sneered, "he can't keep a secret for long."  
  
"He'd better hope so," Mrs. Acceptable said. "Because if nothing happens in the next few weeks, we'll see if we can't get Shego's old cell ready for him."  
  
"Anything else?" Mr. Acceptable asked.  
  
The younger Acceptables were prepared to say "no", relieved that nothing worse than a single shock had come, but Don grunted. "Another police report out of Middleton about this Onyx character."  
  
Mr. Acceptable waved a hand. "A ninja keeping the streets of Middleton safe at night? It sounds childish."  
  
"Could it be Possible in disguise?" their mother asked.  
  
"Doubtful," Yvonne said. "The Onyx first surfaced a month or two before Shego escaped. If it was Kim Possible, why hide her identity?"  
  
"Why indeed?" Mr. Acceptable asked. "She - or he if it's a man with a girlish figure like yours, John - "  
  
John seethed but didn't reply.  
  
"Has some modicum of flair," his father continued. "If they're leaving their name for the press to report on. It's not my concern, however, if they're content to handle the rubbish in Middleton."  
  
"I think we should keep an eye on the Onyx just in case," Mrs. Acceptable suggested. "He or she might become ambitious."  
  
"Ambition is something to be admired in oneself, and destroyed in others," Mr. Acceptable agreed. "Do it. Meeting adjourned. And John?"  
  
"Yes, Father?" John asked just before he could rise, looking worried suddenly.  
  
"You didn't disagree earlier when I suggested you had a girlish figure. Do you think this is true?"  
  
"No! Well, I mean . . ."  
  
"John, you're not a homosexual, are you?"  
  
"What?!" he cried out.  
  
Mr. Acceptable shook his head. "I think you have some issues to work out, John," he said before zapping him again.  
  
To be continued . . . 


	5. Chapter Five

Generally my readers contact me by email, so I'm not used to all these new reviewers, and since I've seen other people do this, I'll say a few things before the chapter begins.  
  
One, thank you to everyone who has posted reviews of this story. It's a challenge for me working with a show when I haven't even seen half the episodes, and the fact that you fans are satisfied with the result is a big help. If you ever want to, you can always email me at eac2nd@yahoo.com and get an individual response from me.  
  
And two, if anyone wants to put this story at any kind of archive, you should feel free, so long as you let me know in advance, as well as give me the site address.  
  
Anyway, I hope you like this chapter as much as the previous ones. Thanks.  
  
Sincerely, Allaine  
  
___________________________  
  
Title: An Unacceptable Sitch (5/??)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: None that I can think of.  
  
Feedback: As this is my first story in a fandom I've only begun following in the last month, I hope everyone will give me their opinions.  
  
Disclaimers: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Shego, Wade, and all other characters from the Kim Possible television series belong to Disney, its television production arm, and the creators and producers of the animated series. I seek no profit from writing this, and expect none.  
  
Summary: Kim and Ron are twenty-one and living apart at college, while Team Possible has been replaced by an entire crime-fighting family. But Kim finds the original is usually still the best after a surprise visit from a desperate former enemy.   
  
_____________________  
  
Chapter 5  
  
"Such exertions!" Señor Senior Senior observed as the two women leaned both hands on their knees and breathed heavily, the sweat dripping from their foreheads. "One would almost think you were still trying to kill each other."  
  
"Who says we're not?" Shego said between pants.  
  
"I never tried to kill her," Kim managed to protest. "That's the difference between me and the Acceptables."  
  
"That and you're not nuts," Shego muttered.  
  
Kim looked up. "You're not in your wheelchair!" she said, surprised.  
  
"I am old, Kim Possible, not paralyzed!" he replied. "In recent years I did not have the energy to walk about. Lately, however, I have not been feeling quite so decrepit." He rested his hands on the knob of his cane and regarded them.  
  
"Checking us out?" Shego challenged him.  
  
"My intentions are not so prurient as you suppose, Shego," he replied. "Tell me, Shego. Do you recall the first time you were here? When you had my son as a pupil?"  
  
She sighed. "Yes."  
  
"You were never exactly worried that the student would outshine the master, were you?" Senior asked dryly.  
  
"Well, no, I wasn't," she admitted.  
  
"I thought as much. It was probably for the same reason that you left him behind when you escaped from the Acceptables," he went on. "Oh, don't worry," he added, seeing the troubled look in her eye. "I know you told me you were in separate parts of the building, but it's because he would have been a liability, no? This was your last chance to get away, after all."  
  
Shego stood up straight. "If I'd known I would end up here, I might have reconsidered."  
  
"I doubt that," he said. "What incentive would I have had then to allow you to recover here? Besides, it would have made a poor hiding place for you. The Acceptables would have looked here first, and I suspect neither you, I, or my son would have been able to repel them."  
  
Kim watched him uncomfortably. She had no idea where he was going with this.  
  
Senior dropped his hand. "But I am allowing myself to be distracted. As I was saying, you could teach my son however you wished, because he would never be a threat to you. I wonder, however - have you both been giving one hundred percent in these training and workout sessions over the past two weeks?"  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kim asked. "I always give my all."  
  
"Even if it means teaching Shego everything she knows?" Senior asked, raising an eyebrow. "Showing her your weaknesses? How to read your body language, anticipate what comes next?" He sighed. "What if you defeat the Acceptables, and Shego sets her sights on you, Miss Possible?"  
  
Kim glanced at Shego, whose face didn't give anything away. "I'd prefer to worry about one enemy at a time," she said.  
  
"Are you enemies even now?" Senior inquired.  
  
"Ask the girl who locks her bedroom door at night," Kim said.  
  
"I'm not the only one," Shego shot back. "And what kind of stupid questions are these, anyway? This is a truce. If we're still alive, she and I go back to whatever it is we were doing before."  
  
"It's just those kind of answers that make me ask such questions!" Senior retorted, sounding angry for the first time. "I have allowed you to stay here because you are my last best chance at seeing my son again while I am still alive! So I must insist that you try to like each other, perhaps try to _trust_ each other. Worry about defeating the Acceptables, not whether you're creating a deadlier Shego or a more powerful Kim Possible, or the two of you can leave and fend for yourselves!" He gestured curtly out the door, but this last effort seemed to weaken him, and he began coughing.  
  
Kim looked doubtfully at Shego. She couldn't imagine that Shego would ever hold back in a fight - she went to bed exhausted every night! - but had she, on some level, withheld something from their sparring? Had she kept a card or two from Shego?  
  
Shego shrugged. "He's worrying about a lot of nothing, I think. Heck, the world used to stop just to watch us fight. How could anything stop us when we're working together?"  
  
"Maybe," Kim said, "but do you think we can really work together when we don't trust each other?"  
  
"Sometimes circumstances make for strange bedfellows," Shego said blithely.  
  
Senior's face seemed to grow longer as one of his employees appeared from behind and hurriedly told him something in his ear. "It would appear," he finally said, "that this conversation will have to be delayed. An airplane was headed toward the island, but it's no longer on radar. Which means it has descended below radar level. We will have to activate the air defenses. It may be the Acceptables have found you after all."  
  
Kim and Shego looked at each other and followed him as he disappeared into the hall.  
  
Eventually they found themselves in the main control room from where Senior and his men monitored the island. "We have visual contact," Senior said grimly as he sat down. "It's flying over our island now."  
  
The computer screen showed a small plane passing overhead. It was briefly blotted out by something before it appeared again and changed direction.  
  
"What's that?" Shego asked as something else descended slowly.  
  
"It appears to be a parachute," Senior said.  
  
"There's only one," Kim pointed out.  
  
"It could be a bomb. I need better visual magnification," Senior replied, typing quickly.  
  
There was a moment's silence as the image came into better focus.  
  
"That's gross," Shego finally said. "It looks like a penis."  
  
"That is _not_ a penis," Kim retorted excitedly, "and I'll ask you not to repeat that in front of him."  
  
"Him?"  
  
"Is that a rodent?" Senior asked curiously.  
  
"It is. Specifically, it's a naked mole rat," Kim said. "And his name is Rufus. Which means my family knows where we are."  
  
Shego stared. "That hairless rat your doofus sidekick always had with him? That's the best they could do?"  
  
"He appears to have some sort of package strapped to his body," Senior observed.  
  
"Let's find out who's the doofus, shall we?" Kim asked sweetly.  
  
Shego growled at her.  
  
_____________________________  
  
Kim only half-paid attention to the mole rat squeezing her knee tightly as she knelt in front of him. Maybe he was being affectionate, and maybe he was just hiding from the pale woman who was glaring at him. "Thanks, Rufus," she whispered. She ripped the package open.  
  
Her breath caught in her throat. Inside was a brand-new Kimmunicator.  
  
"Oh, that's a great idea," Shego said sarcastically. "Send us another copy of what they hacked into the first time. Doy."  
  
Kim also was uncertain. What if she turned it on and the Acceptables found them?  
  
Before she could wait any longer, however, Rufus ran over to the package and turned it on.  
  
"Rufus!"  
  
She couldn't go on, though, because a familiar face was on the screen. "Hey, Kim," Wade said smugly.  
  
"Wade," she breathed. "It's good to see you," she said sincerely.  
  
"Some of us weren't sure we'd ever see you again," he replied as she stood up, tightly clutching her first link to home in weeks. "I liked the clue, though. Subtle."  
  
"It was no big," she said.  
  
"What clue?" Shego asked.  
  
Wade frowned. "Still stuck with Shego, huh?"  
  
"Tell me about it," Kim said dryly.  
  
"When I noticed the 's' and '3' keys were disabled on the miniature keypad," Wade explained, "I figured that was some kind of low-tech hint. Which, admittedly, isn't exactly my department, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to guess that you were referring to the Triple S, Señor Senior Senior."  
  
"Did Stoppable know?" Shego asked.  
  
"As I was saying," Wade said evasively.  
  
Shego chortled.  
  
"Could you quit insulting Ron for two seconds?" Kim snapped at her while Rufus made faces. "Someone could get the idea you were somehow jealous of him."  
  
Shego appeared outraged by the notion, but she also fell silent.  
  
"But Wade," Kim said, "won't the Acceptables be listening to this?"  
  
"Nope," he assured her. "The old Kimmunicator was years behind the times, Kim. I never really bothered to update it for security purposes because you weren't in the hero business any longer. It took me and a few guys here at the lab a couple weeks, but we put virtually every security and encryption device and code we could think of into this little machine. I tested it out last night to be sure. I told Ron I'd be meeting you at a secret location, and they never showed up. The Acceptable Family is officially locked out of your mailbox, Kim."  
  
"Yes!" she said exultantly. "How is everyone?"  
  
"Your family's fine," Wade told her. "We think the Acceptables have them under twenty-four hour surveillance, though."  
  
"How does he know all this?" Shego asked suspiciously. "You never had time to tell him what happened to us, because you got rid of the old Kimmunicator after we learned they were hacking it. How do we even know this is the real Wade? If Dr. D could fool you once into believing he was Wade, so could the Acceptables."  
  
"If I was the Acceptables," Wade said calmly, "I would already be there."  
  
"He appears to have a point," Senior noted.  
  
"Anyway, it wasn't too hard to figure out," Wade continued. "One night you're telling me about Shego and her story about the Acceptables. The next day you vanish without a trace. _Then_ the Acceptables come to your parents, Kim."  
  
"Mom and Dad?" Kim asked, alarmed.  
  
"Relax, they wanted your folks to know that you'd been kidnapped by Shego, and that they should contact the Acceptables if they heard from you," Wade said. "But the Shego you described to me couldn't have abducted a Happy Meal, much less you, Kim. When we got the Kimmunicator in the mail later, we knew you weren't being held against your will. There's still a lot none of us know about what's going on, though."  
  
Kim sighed. "The Acceptables tried to kill Shego, and then me when I got in the way."  
  
Wade's eyes widened. "For real?" he asked.  
  
"I wouldn't be hiding on Señor Senior Senior's private island if it wasn't," Kim snapped. Then she closed her eyes and held her forehead. "I'm sorry, Wade. These last couple of weeks have been a major stress overload."  
  
"Don't worry about it," Wade said. "Anyway, you can't talk to Ron or your parents just yet, Kim. They have the new Kimmunicators too, but they don't know exactly when they're being watched, so they'll contact you when they feel secure."  
  
"Okay," Kim answered, sniffling. This was a big boost for her, but she'd hoped to talk to someone else, especially Ron.  
  
Shego snorted. "If you're going to dissolve into tears, I'm leaving."  
  
"Don't bother, I'm leaving," Kim replied, suddenly needing privacy, especially needing to talk to Wade without Shego and the triple S listening in.  
  
She left so quickly that she forgot about Rufus, who ran after her but met resistance as the door closed between them. He pounded with his little fists.  
  
"Just what I needed, a hairless mammal in my control room," Senior murmured.  
  
"Don't get your rubber underwear in a knot," Shego said. "I'll take him."  
  
Rufus cringed but she was too fast for him. She scooped him up and went out the way Kim left.  
  
___________________  
  
Shego slowed down as she neared the door to Kim's room, unable to resist eavesdropping. Rufus tried to make a noise but she shoved him into her pocket.  
  
"Is Ron really upset?" Kim was asking inside.  
  
"He was pretty frantic for a while," Wade admitted. "He was able to focus, though. He's been working out a lot, actually."  
  
"Ron?" Kim said.  
  
"He said he had a little bit of a beer belly to work off," Wade said. "Plus, remember Zita?"  
  
Kim had almost forgotten her. "They dated in high school," she remembered now.  
  
"Well, she's his personal trainer at the gym he works out at. I think they might be rekindling the friendship while they're at it."  
  
Shego stared. How could anyone be attracted to that nimrod?  
  
"Hey, it's good someone isn't letting Ron slack off," Kim chuckled, though her good humor seemed a bit forced.  
  
"We're going to need Ron to get you out of this," Wade told her. "You guys are practically alone. Not even Global Justice can help."  
  
"What's wrong with GJ?" Kim asked.  
  
"I was able to hack into their databanks. You know how those guys weren't quite as smart as they thought they were. Anyway, it looks like Dr. Director was one of the few people who didn't seem too enamored of the Acceptable Family," Wade explained, "but she was injured in an accident and she had to retire. The new head of Global Justice is all buddy-buddy with the Acceptables now."  
  
"Great," Kim sighed.  
  
"I do have a message from Monique, though," Wade added. "We couldn't get her a Kimmunicator because it looks like the Acceptables aren't paying any attention to her, and we don't want to raise any red flags. But she says when this is all over, the two of you are going out one night and painting Middleton red."  
  
Shego barely heard the muffled "Thanks, Wade." When she peeked inside, Kim had her head buried inside a pillow, and Shego realized she was trying to hide her tears from the computer genius.  
  
"She's sacrificing a lot because of me," Shego thought, and the realization made her shiver.  
  
"Wait, Wade," Kim suddenly said, and Shego could hear her suppress any further waterworks. "If Ron is being watched, won't they notice Rufus is missing?"  
  
"Taken care of, KP," Wade promised. "Ron bought a second naked mole rat and is calling her Rufus."  
  
"Her?"  
  
"It's a she. I think Rufus liked her."  
  
Shego felt something and looked down. Rufus was sticking out of her pocket and sighing longingly.  
  
Kim gasped. "Oh my God, Rufus! I left him down there!"  
  
"Keep your top on," Shego muttered as she entered, pulling Rufus out. "He was getting on my nerves, so I brought him up. Maybe you can control him."  
  
Rufus stuck his tongue out at her.  
  
"Thanks," Kim said quietly as Rufus jumped down next to her on the bed.  
  
"I'd better go, Kim," Wade told her reluctantly. "Even with all the new safeguards, if this convo lasts much longer, the Acceptables might be able to crack the code."  
  
"Then you'd better go," Kim answered. "It was good seeing you again."  
  
"You too, Kim," he said softly. "Don't worry, your parents and Ron will get to you soon."  
  
Shego held her tongue and refrained from making sarcastic remarks as Kim turned it off. "Looks like it's just us again, huh?"  
  
Kim nodded. "I actually feel more lonely than ever," she whispered, and Rufus crawled into her lap and settled down there. She looked at Shego. "Maybe we could try working on the liking thing, like Senior said?" she asked carefully.  
  
Shego shoved her hands into her pockets. "I suppose," she muttered, "we could do a better job enjoying each other's company."  
  
Rufus blinked and rubbed his eyes.  
  
"You want to practice some more?" Shego asked.  
  
"No, I think right now I'd just like to think by myself," Kim said.  
  
"Fine," Shego replied. "I'll be in my room then."  
  
She left, but instead of closing the adjoining door behind her, she left it wide open.  
  
Kim looked at the open door. "Thanks again," she said.  
  
There was no answer, but she knew Shego had heard her.  
  
To be continued . . . 


	6. Chapter Six

Title: An Unacceptable Sitch (6/??)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: None that I can think of.  
  
Feedback: As this is my first story in a fandom I've only begun following in the last month, I hope everyone will give me their opinions.  
  
Disclaimers: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Shego, Wade, and all other characters from the Kim Possible television series belong to Disney, its television production arm, and the creators and producers of the animated series. I seek no profit from writing this, and expect none.  
  
Summary: Kim and Ron are twenty-one and living apart at college, while Team Possible has been replaced by an entire crime-fighting family. But Kim finds the original is usually still the best after a surprise visit from a desperate former enemy.   
  
_____________________  
  
Chapter 6  
  
"Stupid kung-fu fighting," one of the hoodlums muttered.  
  
"Stupid ninjas," the other replied.  
  
"Hey, am I going to have to gag you two?"  
  
They fell silent as the masked individual pulled on the rope one last time. The two would-be muggers were now tied together, hanging upside down. Rope bound their ankles and they swung gently in the night breeze. Their captor tied the other end of the rope securely to a nearby dumpster.  
  
The captor in question was medium height and slim, in a complete form-fitting black bodysuit that even covered her fingers and toes. She was obviously a she, however, from the feminine physique and bosom. She also wore black headgear with mesh over her eyes so that not even those could be seen and identified.  
  
"I'll be going now," she said, "but I'll make sure you're not lonely for long. When I call 911, should I give them your names?" They didn't seem interested in the offer, and she turned to leave.  
  
As she prepared to disappear into the shadows, however, there were sudden thumps behind her, and grunting noises.  
  
She spun around and saw that the two criminals had been rendered unconscious by two new arrivals. "Was that really necessary?" she asked.  
  
"When heroes such as ourselves talk," Yvonne Acceptable replied, "it's best if others aren't around, or able, to hear it. It lets everyone speak freely."  
  
"So you're the Onyx," John Acceptable said. "I see why. Ninja?"  
  
"Do I need some special insignia to go along with the gear?" Onyx asked. "Because if I'm going to continue to be mistaken for your garden-variety ninja, I need to find something to make this ensemble unique."  
  
"I'm John, and this is my sister Yvonne," John answered, grinning. "We're two of the Acceptables."  
  
"I know who you are," Onyx said.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"You guys do know you've been on television, right?"  
  
Yvonne smiled politely. "And you've been in the local newspapers. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll make the TV screens some day too."  
  
"Not interested, you know? The idea is quick, silent, blending in with the dark. If someone got me on video, it would mean I was doing something wrong."  
  
"Anyway," John said, "back to why we're here, we just wanted to welcome you to the fold. We don't really concern ourselves with these penny-ante criminals, you know. We handle the big stuff."  
  
"Those two clowns," Onyx informed them, "were armed with a gun and a knife. If they'd tried to rob someone before I found them, and things had gone south, someone could be hurt or dead. I don't view that as penny-ante."  
  
Yvonne shrugged. "Whatever."  
  
Onyx placed her hands on her hips. "Do I get a membership card now?"  
  
"Membership card, heh, that's funny," John told her. "We just wanted to get an idea of your intentions."  
  
"Fight crime, save lives. Is that going to be a problem?"  
  
"No, no, of course not," John assured her. "We were thinking more along the lines of your ambitions, actually. My family wasn't always saving the world, you know. We had to start small."  
  
"Right, and Kim Possible was doing it before you showed up," Onyx reminded them.  
  
Yvonne only smiled more brightly, but John's smile slipped for a moment. "Which just goes to show how things can change," he eventually replied.  
  
"Yes," Onyx agreed.  
  
There was a pause, and she realized the Acceptables had gradually come closer, even as they seemed to walk about aimlessly as they spoke. "So?" Yvonne asked at last.  
  
"So what?"  
  
"Do you have ambitions beyond cleaning up human trash in the Middleton area?" Yvonne pressed her.  
  
"Don't have the resources," Onyx admitted. "But if my path takes me there, then I wouldn't be averse to fighting on a wider stage."  
  
The Acceptable siblings had no reaction. "Well, just as long as you don't get in our way," John told her. "You mentioned Possible, and she found out there wasn't room for two superhero teams, so she stepped aside. We might ask you to step aside if you interfered with our mission."  
  
Onyx smiled beneath her mask. "Are you saying this world isn't big enough for the both of us?" she asked lightly.  
  
"We're just saying we should work together more," Yvonne said. "Coordinate. Understand where we belong."  
  
The other woman now frowned. It was like that old "red light" game. The Acceptables had split up so that she couldn't look at both siblings at the same time. Whenever she turned to look at one, they were perfectly still, but the other would be coming closer.  
  
"We shouldn't have secrets from each other," John added. "We're on the same side. How about letting us see the woman behind the name?"  
  
"No, thanks," she replied. "Lends mystery."  
  
As if she hadn't spoken, John actually reached toward her head to take her headgear off.  
  
She slapped his hand away forcefully, angered now. "No means no, Johnny."  
  
"Women always say no, Onyx," John replied, smirking.  
  
"And while we're all this big, happy family," she continued, "try getting the name right? It's Oryx. _Oryx_."  
  
They both stood there and looked at her blankly. "What's an Oryx?" John asked.  
  
"An oryx," Oryx informed them, "is an African horned gazelle. The newspapers saw the 'r' and thought it was an 'n'. Because of the black - really, how unoriginal do they think I am?"  
  
"I hear gazelles run pretty fast," Yvonne said idly.  
  
"Yeah, but the oryx doesn't run. It fights."  
  
Then Oryx whipped out what she'd been hiding behind her back almost from the moment they'd arrived. John was standing so near that he couldn't react as she pressed the small black device against his chest. The stun gun was an appropriate choice, she thought. Like the deer and gazelle, it had two prongs, and a nice kick.  
  
John cried out as she delivered a shock that was five times greater than your typical store-bought shocking device. Then she struck him in the temple with a sweeping high kick, knocking him into Yvonne's feet. Yvonne tumbled down.  
  
"Laters," Oryx said as she ran for it.  
  
"Shouldn't have done that, rookie," Yvonne hissed as she struggled to her feet and pursued her.  
  
Fifty yards away, however, Yvonne braked to a stop and looked around in consternation. There were shadows everywhere, and Oryx had basically been swallowed by them.  
  
"Where are you?" she called in frustration.  
  
Oryx's reply floated back to her. "Gazelles can leap too," she said mockingly, and Yvonne could tell it came from somewhere above her.  
  
Kicking the dust angrily, Yvonne went back to collect her brother. "Mrs. Acceptable isn't going to like this," she muttered. "Which means Mr. Acceptable isn't either."  
  
__________________________  
  
  
  
"Lobster, I will have you know, is not only a fine dish, but it is also much preferred by the supervillain set," Señor Senior Senior informed Kim and Shego as they looked at the shellfish being set down in front of them. "The lobster is kept alive in a small cell, its appendages tightly bound. Then it is lowered into a vat of boiling water, where it dies a slow death." He sighed contentedly. "As you can see, it is quite like the deathtraps our kind are so traditionally fond of."  
  
"Well, maybe so, but I'm allergic to lobster," Shego replied, pushing it away.  
  
Rufus happily leapt off Kim's shoulder and ran down to Shego's dish, separating the shell from the meat with his teeth.  
  
"I don't think I can eat a whole lobster," Kim said hesitantly.  
  
"Eat what you can, girls," Senior reminded them. "You burn the calories faster than you put them on."  
  
The Kimmunicator in Kim's pocket suddenly went off. Kim ripped it out. "Hello, Wade?" she asked carefully. Maybe it was him, and maybe it was an Acceptable. And maybe it was someone else.  
  
"KP!"  
  
"Ron?!" She glanced at Rufus and saw he hadn't even heard her. His head was buried in the chest of the lobster like he was bobbing for apples. "I'm going to take this outside," Kim said to the others as she pushed her chair back and darted out.  
  
Shego watched her go. "Letters from home," she said, sneering.  
  
Kim closed the door to her room and sat on the bed. "Hi, Ron," she said, trying to sound casual and failing. She was smiling so broadly.  
  
"Kim, Kim, Kim," he answered. "Preferring the likes of Shego to my company? If you knew you were going to unretire, at least you could have asked me if I wanted to be a sidekick again before you recruited one."  
  
"Didn't want to pull us both out of school. Besides, you do have that affection for beer," Kim chided him.  
  
"Yeah, well," Ron said, rubbing the back of his neck, "I took a leave of absence."  
  
"What?! Why?"  
  
"Training," he told her. "Been working on my pecs. Zita - she's my personal trainer - she and I used to go out, you might remember. So she runs me ragged in the gym, because she's got extra incentive to see me in pain."  
  
Kim shook her head. "You have such a way with girls, Ron."  
  
"Hey, what about you? Your new pal has way more incentive than Zita does to see you suffer," he reminded her.  
  
"She's not so bad, actually," Kim replied, "when she hates someone else more than she hates you."  
  
"Speaking of the leave of absence," Ron admitted, "I'm thinking of transferring anyway."  
  
"Really? Where?"  
  
"Cooking school. I think my grades are average enough to get me in."  
  
"Ron, that's great!" she said sincerely.  
  
"Yeah, plus there is this one school I'm looking at in California, when this is all over . . ."  
  
Kim blinked. "That wouldn't be near Stanford, would it?"  
  
"Forty minutes away, KP."  
  
She couldn't help it. She was an adult, but she still squealed with joy. "Hoo-shah!"  
  
___________________  
  
Rufus poked his head out of the shell of his lobster. "Kim?" he squeaked.  
  
"Your owner called, and she went running," Shego muttered as she picked at her salad.  
  
"Ohh," Rufus sighed.  
  
Senior had little difficulty enjoying his lobster. "The meat is sweet, especially with butter and lemon," he observed, "but sometimes getting there is equally satisfying." He grabbed one of the lobster's claws and pulled one of the pincers back until it completely snapped.  
  
The combination of the visual and the audio made Shego suddenly flinch in her chair, for reasons she couldn't immediately explain.  
  
Rufus' eyebrows rose. He scrambled around the lobster and took a pincer in both his little paws. He pulled back until it broke off, and then he chortled, holding the appendage in the air.  
  
Shego shuddered, and a memory echoed in her mind.  
  
(_I've given you all the information on Drakken I have! What else do you want from me?_)  
  
(_I want to see you cry, Shego._)  
  
(And cry she did after he'd broken one of her fingers a third time.)  
  
Rufus merrily cracked open the lobster's other pincer.  
  
Shego felt nauseous, and she bolted from the dining room.  
  
Senior and the rodent looked at each other. "Perhaps she is more allergic than she thought," Senior mused.  
  
_________________________  
  
"So who's the new mole rat?" Kim asked.  
  
"That would be Rufus Two," Ron replied. "Temporarily, anyway. It's a girl, and I don't think she would go for that."  
  
Kim was about to reply when she heard footsteps followed by the sound of Shego's door slamming. The door between their apartments was open, and she could hear Shego making odd noises as she ran by the doorway.  
  
"Uh, Ron? I think I might have to split," she said doubtfully.  
  
"No big, Kim. Wade says we can't go over a certain time limit anyway. Just wanted to check in with you."  
  
"Thanks, Ron," Kim replied. "I needed that."  
  
"Tell Rufus I miss him."  
  
She promised to do so and terminated the connection. Then she cautiously stood and walked into Shego's rooms. "Shego?"  
  
The door to her bedroom was shut, and she knocked. "Go away," Shego called.  
  
Kim had never taken orders from Shego, and she wasn't about to. She turned the knob and entered.  
  
Shego was lying facedown on the bed, and she looked up. "I said . . ."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Nothing."  
  
Kim almost sat on the bed, but she was afraid of what Shego might do if she got too close, so she sat cross-legged on the floor instead. "What's wrong?" she asked again.  
  
Shego muttered under her breath. "I said nothing. I just was reminded of something that happened to me in the Acceptables' lair."  
  
"What?"  
  
She said nothing for a minute. "They were breaking the lobster claws in the dining room," Shego said softly, "and I remembered how John Acceptable broke my fingers. I told you about that, right?"  
  
Kim nodded.  
  
"They'd been interrogating me pretty hard those first few weeks," Shego went on. "They wanted Drakken's plans, his hideouts, his inventions, his bank accounts, everything. After a while, when regular beatings weren't enough, they used other methods. John liked to power up the old generator and find interesting places to put the alligator clamps," she said flatly.  
  
"That's inhuman," Kim whispered.  
  
Shego shrugged. "Sadistic people aren't exactly new for me," she said. "Hell, I like to twist the knife now and then. Don was more of a results guy. John was more emotional. And I screamed and screamed, and eventually Don and his folks got everything they wanted. But not John."  
  
"What more did he want?"  
  
"He wanted my tears, all right?" Shego snapped. "He wanted to see me cry. And I gave that to him too. He broke me. I would have given him anything just to make him stop grinding the bones in my fingers against each other. You can't imagine how excruciating that pain is. It's like lasers traveling up and down your spine. Maybe it wasn't the worst thing they ever did to me, but the thought of him doing it to all ten fingers - I knew he would, you see. I was so fucking afraid of that, I cried. I willed tears, and then I was crying for real, because that's when I gave up." She paused. "When I escaped, I'd been shamming being docile so they'd relax, but for a long time there, it wasn't a scam. It was real. And I will never forget that."  
  
"Maybe instead of thinking about what they made you do," Kim suggested, "you could focus on when you started to fight back."  
  
Shego rolled over so that she was staring at the ceiling. "You don't have the answers here, all right, Kimmie?"  
  
Kim got up now and sat next to her on the bed. "If you're saying you want me to shut up, then fine. I'll shut up. But I'm not going to leave you here alone with your demons, Shego."  
  
The brunette closed her eyes and mumbled something.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"Stop talking," Shego muttered. "But you can stay. If you want to."  
  
Kim nodded, and she took the hand that she knew had been injured. Shego's hand tensed, but then she relaxed.  
  
And as she'd promised, she didn't say a word.  
  
_____________________  
  
John snapped the cattle prod in two and discarded the pieces. One end still smoldered. "He doesn't know anything," he said to Don, who was watching him.  
  
"We questioned Junior a couple days after she escaped with Possible, remember?" Don reminded him.  
  
"I thought I'd make sure," John said.  
  
"You thought you'd relieve the embarrassment of losing that Oryx girl, not long after that debacle with Kim Possible. But anybody can torture a man tied to a chair. Completing the mission is what you need to be Acceptable."  
  
"Who are you, our father?" John snapped.  
  
Don chuckled bitterly. "I'm not that big an asshole."  
  
"So what do you want?"  
  
"Stoppable's been using a personal trainer lately. She's an ex-girlfriend, it turns out. The 'rents think she could be the Oryx."  
  
"They want me to tail her?" John asked hopefully.  
  
"Yeah, right. 'Women always say no'? Are you that un-PC? The trainer's my assignment. They want you to take over following Ron. See if you can avoid fucking that one up."  
  
"Screw you," John muttered.  
  
"That's our mother's job," Don said.  
  
To be continued . . . 


	7. Chapter Seven

Title: An Unacceptable Sitch (7/??)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: None that I can think of.  
  
Feedback: As this is my first story in a fandom I've only begun following in the last month, I hope everyone will give me their opinions.  
  
Disclaimers: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Shego, Wade, and all other characters from the Kim Possible television series belong to Disney, its television production arm, and the creators and producers of the animated series. The Acceptable Family and all original characters are my invention. I seek no profit from writing this, and expect none.  
  
Summary: Kim and Ron are twenty-one and living apart at college, while Team Possible has been replaced by an entire crime-fighting family. But Kim finds the original is usually still the best after a surprise visit from a desperate former enemy.   
  
_____________________  
  
(Note: Contains brief but explicit discussion of nudity.)  
  
Chapter 7  
  
"I am very sorry, my dear ladies," Senior informed Kim and Shego as he blocked the door to the cavernous training facilities, "but I need this space today. You will have to make yourselves scarce."  
  
"What's going on?" Kim asked.  
  
"I have invited a great number of men to my island," he replied. "Men who are good at hitting things and rappelling down walls. Some of them will be here the remainder of your stay, until the day your plans are put into motion. The others will not be here after today. If they see you here, they may try to sell that information to the Acceptables."  
  
Kim and Shego looked at each other. "So what the hell are we supposed to do for the whole day?" Shego asked, irritated.  
  
"You are on an island," he reminded her. "Try relaxing." Then he slipped through the door behind him and closed it, locking it from within.  
  
"We could break in," Shego suggested, "and practice by taking on fifty men. And winning."  
  
"Senior's right," Kim sighed. "We need a force of enough men to make lots of noise banging on the Acceptables' front door. And if some of them don't cut it, they could tell anybody we're here. I guess we'll have to make do without taking out our mutual antagonism on each other for one day."  
  
Shego smiled. "You know, once upon a time, when I wasn't kicking your ass - "  
  
"You never _were_ kicking my ass!"  
  
"Are you sure it's only been five years? Because I think you're going senile from your old age, Kimmie. Anyway, when I wasn't working you over, I did know how to relax. And it involved islands."  
  
Kim nodded after a moment. Shego had regaled her more than once with tales of the tropical paradises Kim only wished she'd been to. Still, it seemed unreal to follow up weeks of intense physical training by _sunbathing_.  
  
She was about to mention this to Shego when she discovered the other woman had simply left without her. "Hey!"  
  
_____________________  
  
Kim walked stiffly out to the pool in Senior's courtyard. Shego had beaten her outside by several minutes, and not only because she'd gotten to her rooms first. "You know . . ." she began to say as Shego entered her view, but she stopped.  
  
  
  
Shego was lying on her stomach on a horizontal beach chair. She faced away from Kim, her head resting on her folder arms. She wore a two-piece bathing suit, one of two that Senior had provided each woman for those times they practiced swimming and underwater fighting. But Shego was only wearing the black piece that covered her rear. Her green top was untied and hanging loosely to either side, exposing her entire backside to the sun.  
  
"Why do you even bother?" Kim finally asked instead. "You don't _get_ tan lines."  
  
Shego turned her head leisurely to look at Kim. Kim was sure a wicked look lurked behind her shades. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked in response. The curve of her left breast peeked out.  
  
"Hello? Your skin? You don't get tan lines because you don't tan."  
  
"I tan," Shego said in the tones of someone who was tired of explaining it for the fiftieth time. "You just don't see it."  
  
"You know," Kim added, returning to her original thought, "I couldn't find either of my bathing suits. I'm sure they were both clean. Yours were, after all."  
  
The smile returned to Shego's face as she slowly inspected the green and black one-piece Kim was wearing, having had no other choice. Kim's cheeks burned. "I guess the maids made a mistake," she finally said. "I like your taste, but those aren't your colors."  
  
"Or maybe someone _hid_ them," Kim retorted. "I couldn't help but notice that _your_ other suit was laid out on your bed, like you didn't want _someone_ to go through your drawers." She stopped. "You couldn't have been in my room for more than half a minute before I got there. How could you know where to look? Have you been snooping?!" Kim asked, putting her hands on her hips.  
  
Shego snorted, but she also looked away. "Like I'd be caught dead in one of your outfits," she muttered.  
  
"You couldn't have been dead that day when you kicked John Acceptable in the crotch in my boots," Kim shot back.  
  
Shego only muttered something.  
  
Kim looked at her, frustrated. She realized that Shego was always the "bad girl" and that she had always been the "good girl", but did Shego have to respond with an insult or a sneer every time Kim offered her a hand? Giving up, she lay down on the beach chair next to Shego's and put her wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses on.  
  
"Kim?"  
  
Kim raised her head. They'd said nothing for several minutes, and Kim had wondered if they would bathe in silence the whole day. "Yes?"  
  
"Say we win," Shego said. She turned and rested her head on one elbow. Her breasts were in full view now, and Kim uncomfortably looked down.   
  
"For God's sake," Shego muttered, picking her top up and connecting the strap in back. "You are such a prude."   
  
That hadn't been why Kim looked away. The scene was no different from the things she'd seen in locker rooms in her other life, but the way Shego's nipples were the same alien skin tone as the rest of her body made her look almost freakish. It shamed Kim to be affected so by another person's looks, but the stark quality had startled her. "So we win," Kim said, looking back now.  
  
"Right. On the off chance," Shego replied. "What are you going to do then?"  
  
"With what?"  
  
"With yourself. Are you going back to school?"  
  
Kim frowned. She'd thought about this more than once, but at this point, she didn't feel like answering without more information. "What about you?" she asked. "You've been behind locked doors for years, Shego. Where do you go after you've picked your life back up?"  
  
Shego shrugged. "Beats me."  
  
"Maybe becoming a criminal's sidekick again? Like Drakken's?"  
  
The pale brunette surprised Kim again by laughing. "No," she said, wiping an eye. "I don't think so."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Well, for one thing, I spent four years taking orders from the Acceptables and hating every minute of it," Shego explained. "And since then I've been taking orders from you, which isn't much of an improvement. So I think I'd like to assert my independence for a while."  
  
Kim cocked her head. "But you were a sidekick. It was your job to follow Drakken's orders. Shouldn't you be used to it?"  
  
Shego smiled sardonically. "Who do you think was in charge all those years ago, Kimmie? Him?"  
  
"Well . . ."  
  
"He paid me to do things I would have done for myself," Shego said. "Breaking and entering, stealing, fighting. And I didn't fight you because I was trying to save his sorry blue hide. I fought you because after the first couple of times, it became my ambition at that time to defeat you once and for all. You were my competition." She gestured dismissively. "I picked Drakken for two reasons - one, he let me run his life, not the other way around. And two, his plans were so grandiose that I knew you'd always come running. Thereby giving me another shot at winning."  
  
"Really," Kim replied. "For a while I wondered if maybe something was going on between you two."  
  
Shego looked revolted. "Oh, gross! I think I'm going to be sick! Look, he was a nice enough guy, I guess. He needed me, and I didn't have to remind him of that very much. But trust me, he was never my type." Then she smiled slyly. "Sometimes I wondered if you were had a secret thing with Stoppable."  
  
Kim blinked. "With Ron?" She leaned back in her chair. Part of her wanted to burst out laughing, but only a small part. "Ron has been my best friend my whole life," Kim admitted. "I think a lot of girls would be lucky to have him for a boyfriend. But I think our friendship got in the way. Maybe if I'd considered it, I would have given us a chance. But we'd been friends for so long, I don't think either of us even thought of it. Then the Acceptables came along, and we were no longer Team Possible, and we didn't see each other quite as much as before . . ."  
  
Taking off her sunglasses, she looked at Shego. "You asked me earlier what I would do if we defeated the Acceptables. I'll tell you if you tell me why you asked."  
  
Shego sighed and stretched out again on the chair. "I want to live my life again when this is over," she said. "I want to be strong like I was before I was captured. So I'm going to go back to what I do best."  
  
"Being a criminal?" Kim asked, dismayed.  
  
"Yep," Shego said.  
  
"And you wanted to know if I was going back to being a hero," Kim realized.  
  
Shego nodded.  
  
"You don't have to break the law to be strong, Shego," Kim told her. "I think you're a very strong person."  
  
"What you think isn't enough for me, Possible," Shego snapped. "I need the kick, the rush, the thrill. And I'm not cut out for the hero business."  
  
"And I'm not a criminal!" Kim shouted at her.  
  
Shego looked at her. "No one's asking you to," she said slowly.  
  
"Oh?" Kim asked. "So if you stole something, and I came to take it back from you, it wouldn't feel weird fighting me?"  
  
"We've been fighting each other every day for the past - "  
  
"We're not trying to kill each other," Kim interrupted, "no matter how much we tell ourselves that. But," she continued calmly, "if the only way you could win was to kill me or let me die, would you feel any differently than you would have five years ago?"  
  
"No," Shego replied instantly.  
  
Kim was surprised at how much that remark hurt her. "Then you should have no problem being who you used to be," she finally said. "You already are."  
  
She put her glasses back on and turned over, ready to give her own back a turn under the sun.  
  
"I . . ."  
  
Kim turned her head. "What?!" she asked viciously.  
  
Shego looked oddly hesitant. "I - I wouldn't feel any differently because I don't think I ever wanted you to die in the first place," she admitted softly.  
  
Kim gaped at her. "You're kidding! There must have been twenty different times when I could have died so easily!"  
  
"But you didn't," Shego said. "I think you underestimate just how easy it was for you. I knew you'd live. I just wanted to see how you do it." She looked angry as she said what she probably had never imagined she would tell Kim, but there was also open sincerity in her eyes. "I told you that you were my life's ambition. I wanted so much to beat you because I hated you, but I also admired and respected your talent so much."  
  
Kim was utterly dumbfounded. "I never would have guessed," she said honestly.  
  
Shego looked downcast. "So you're going back to being a hero?"  
  
She nodded. "If we win and the Acceptables are gone, this world will need someone to fill the void, and . . . you know, when the Acceptables arrived on the scene, on some level I was glad they showed up. I wanted to give it up."  
  
"Now you're the one who's kidding," Shego accused her.  
  
"No, really," Kim said. "I was still a teenager, and I had all those silly, selfish desires that teenage girls have, and I felt like I was missing out on so much. Certainly one girl reminded me of that constantly. I never planned to be what I was. I planned for college and a career and love. And no matter how easy you thought it was, I was afraid every time I skirted the edge of death because you can't do that forever. And the first time you fail, you don't get another chance." She stopped. "My mother knew that too," she added quietly. "She's never said so, but I know she was glad I stopped."  
  
"But now you're going back," Shego reminded her.  
  
"Hey, you pulled me back in," Kim replied, trying to laugh. "I think . . . it's what I was meant to do in life. Even after five years, my instincts didn't change. I knew you were in real trouble that night. I knew I believed you, not the Acceptable kids who've been fighting crime all that time. I can't waste that on a normal life."  
  
"So what, you think we're doomed to die before we see our thirtieth birthdays?" Shego scoffed.  
  
"I'm the good guy, so I'm the introspective one, remember?"  
  
Shego laughed. "Yeah, I'm the devil-may-care girl. I don't worry about the future. I believe I'll live forever. You should too. Stop talking and lie back down, Possible. You're depressing me."  
  
"Are you saying I'm gloomy?" Kim asked.  
  
"You were gloomy in high school. Look at your outfit, black and olive. Nothing says 'drab' like black and olive."  
  
Kim smiled for real this time. "Mind if I share a secret too?"  
  
"Oh, sure. As long as you don't trust me to keep it."  
  
"I would never have admitted this to Monique or Ron," Kim went on, undeterred, "but remember that day in our rooms you told me your outfit was an expression of how you viewed yourself?"  
  
Shego nodded, not saying anything. She also remembered how she'd felt after she tried her old gear on.  
  
"I always liked your outfit too," Kim told her. "It was so brash and bold and rebellious. Unlike me, you never dressed for camouflage."  
  
"Really?" Shego asked, startled.  
  
Kim nodded. "It challenged the eye the way you challenged everything else."  
  
Shego tapped her fingertips on her knee. "You know," she finally said, "I figured that would fit you." She gestured to the bathing suit Kim had borrowed. "You and I were always the same size."  
  
"Yeah, I guess . . . so," Kim replied before noticing the glint in Shego's eye. "What?"  
  
___________________________  
  
"Why am I just sitting here, waiting on you?" Kim called out, perched on her bed and still wearing Shego's suit.  
  
"Because," Shego said as she finally arrived, "it's mine, so I get first crack at it." She leaned on the doorframe. "Well?" she asked saucily.  
  
Kim smiled. "I was wondering what took you so long," she replied.  
  
Shego went over to Kim's mirror and checked her backside out with a trace of anxiety. "That first time was so mortifying," she said. "I guess I was afraid I would try it on and see the same thing."  
  
"Those Acceptables really did a number on you," Kim said quietly. As Shego had noted before, they had similar figures, so Kim couldn't help but admire her lithe physique and the way the tight green and black bodysuit accentuated her athletic body.  
  
Shego scowled darkly. "Yeah, they did," she said. "Okay, now you."  
  
"What?"  
  
Before Kim could even comprehend what Shego meant, the brunette was stripping out of her suit. "You said you liked it, didn't you?" Shego asked. "Here's your one chance to try it out for yourself."  
  
"I really don't think . . ." Kim said nervously.  
  
"Oh, come on, Kim. I make the clothes, they don't make me," Shego said, rolling her eyes as she efficiently stripped down to her bikini bottom. Once again she'd shed her top, leaving her almost completely nude. Her ease at being topless couldn't surprise Kim, though - she was always too daring by half. "See what it's like wearing something other than fatigues to a fight for once."  
  
Kim reluctantly took the clothes being offered her. With a firm shake of her head, she decided she was being way too modest. If Shego wasn't afraid of showing some skin, certainly Kim Possible wouldn't be either. She slipped out of the bathing suit. Now she wore nothing at all, and she looked at Shego triumphantly. The other woman had averted her eyes, however, and Kim briefly appreciated Shego's respect for her privacy.  
  
She had trouble with the outfit, however. It was all one piece, and it was very stretchy and clingy. She got her legs into it without too much difficulty, but it seemed to have gotten tangled above the waist, and finally Shego had to come over and help her put it on.  
  
Fixing the clasp near the neck, Shego stepped back a little. "Not bad at all," she murmured.  
  
Kim turned and checked herself out in the full-length mirror. "Wow," she said, moving her palms against the fabric and enjoying the way it felt against her skin. It was almost surreal seeing her head on top of what now could easily pass for Shego's body.  
  
Shego came up behind her and rested her hands on Kim's shoulders. "You know what you're feeling right now?" she asked softly.  
  
"What?" Kim asked, not moving.  
  
"Freedom," she whispered. "You speak out. You don't do what other people tell you to do. You're alive. You feel. You're unpredictable. You can do what you want." Shego stopped. "Are you sure you're not a criminal?" she added carefully, reminding Kim of what she'd said by the pool. "You look like you belong in that suit. And you and I, we could be unbeatable together."  
  
Kim caught her breath as Shego's words filtered through her whole body. Well, she'd wanted Shego to open up to her, and now she'd gotten what she'd asked for. She felt warm too. It was probably the tight suit, although Shego's close proximity, the way her arms and bosom were pressed against her back, wasn't helping.  
  
Shego's version of freedom, she admitted to herself, felt really good, and mentally Kim saved this image of herself in her memory. Slipping into what was truly Shego's skin made her feel closer than ever to her reluctant ally.   
  
Then she stepped forward and out of Shego's grip. "You were right," she said regretfully. "They're not my colors."   
  
Shego turned her head away, but Kim saw the look of rejection in her eyes. "Then take it off," Shego said bitterly.  
  
Kim didn't bother to respond. Carefully she tugged it off and handed it back to Shego, who kept her face to the wall. "Thank you, Shego," she said.  
  
The other woman had no reply, of course. She left Kim's room, slammed the adjoining door, and didn't come out the rest of the day.  
  
To be continued . . . 


	8. Chapter Eight

Title: An Unacceptable Sitch (8/??)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: None that I can think of.  
  
Feedback: As this is my first story in a fandom I've only begun following in the last month, I hope everyone will give me their opinions.  
  
Disclaimers: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Shego, Wade, and all other characters from the Kim Possible television series belong to Disney, its television production arm, and the creators and producers of the animated series. The Acceptable Family and all original characters are my invention. I seek no profit from writing this, and expect none.  
  
Summary: Kim and Ron are twenty-one and living apart at college, while Team Possible has been replaced by an entire crime-fighting family. But Kim finds the original is usually still the best after a surprise visit from a desperate former enemy.   
  
_____________________  
  
Chapter 8  
  
"You have been selected as the very best," Senior said calmly from the raised platform the following afternoon. "The twenty-four of you will be participating in a very dangerous mission in a few weeks. For the duration of that time, you will train on my island. I can permit no outside contact, however. You will not be permitted to make or receive outside phone calls, electronic mail, letters, or any other kind of transmission. Nor will you be allowed to leave." He smiled. "Hence my insistence on men without families."  
  
He heard a noise through the doorway behind him. Turning to look, he saw a feminine shape approaching in the darkness. "Ah, excellent," he said. "We will be mounting an assault on the secret headquarters of the Acceptable Family."  
  
There were murmurs, of course, and he raised a hand. "I know, I know, it's been tried before. But not with who I am about to show you. Just a moment, if you will." He stepped into the corridor. "My dear, perhaps the two of you could join me for a . . . moment?"  
  
Shego glared at him. Her upper lip was caked with dried blood, the result of what appeared to be a severely bruised nose. "What?!" she asked irritably.  
  
He stared. "Er, where is Ms. Possible?"  
  
"_Ms. Possible_," she said, mimicking rudely, "is right behind me. I need a shower." She moved - no, limped past him.  
  
Senior watched her go, then turned to see Kim arrive. She had what would be a very large shiner in the morning, and she looked drained. "Maybe tomorrow," he muttered as she opened her mouth.  
  
She shrugged and kept walking.  
  
"Ta-da!"  
  
Starting, Senior turned back.  
  
Rufus was perched on the railing triumphantly, waving at the men, who now looked more doubtful than ever.  
  
The old man slapped his forehead.  
  
___________________________________________  
  
Kim felt bone-weary as she walked toward the bathroom. While they had their own toilets in their rooms, they were forced to share a shower. She had shed her dirty clothes and wore only a towel around her body.  
  
She nearly bumped into Shego, who was similarly clad and had also been trying to enter the shower. "Do you mind?" she snarled at Kim. "I called it first, you know."  
  
"Then maybe you should have gotten dressed quicker," Kim snapped, well past being in the mood for Shego's antics. She'd always known that Shego had a bad attitude in general, but Shego's temper seemed to have been lost since before she had entered the training gym that morning.  
  
Shego had served notice that their practice sparring wasn't about refining their skills when she cracked Kim across the face with an open-handed slap that left her entire cheek flaming red. It had been about inflicting as much pain as possible.  
  
Kim should have kept better control of herself, but she was sick to death of Shego's tantrums, and she'd allowed the session to devolve into an hour-long catfight. Ron, or practically any other red-blooded man in the world, would have been transfixed by the sight of Kim and Shego rolling around on the mat, scratching and kicking. A wild elbow had caused the blood to spurt from Shego's nose, while Shego's fist had struck her so strongly and squarely on the eye that Kim knew the shiner would be there for days.  
  
Thank God Shego hadn't been wearing her gloves.  
  
When the two women had regained some semblance of control, by mutual and silent agreement they'd "retired to their corners", and had worked out alone the remainder of the day.  
  
Naturally Kim knew it had stemmed from the incident in her bedroom the previous day, but she hoped the fight had, at the very least, purged Shego of her anger. Now, however, Shego's body seemed to shake with a volcanic anger, and Kim despaired that their partnership could survive this. It was the Acceptable Family she had hoped to split apart, and instead they were the ones in pieces.   
  
"That's easy for you to say," Shego retorted. "Considering you dress like last year's Gap commercial. You know what I think your look is missing? More pockets."  
  
Kim glared at her. "Save it for the Acceptables, all right?" She tried to move past her.  
  
Shego blocked her, although it was becoming less about who got to shower first, and more about finishing their argument. "After all, you had your little moment of adventure yesterday. You got to try my clothes on, got to feel a little naughty, something to tell your loser friends while you cover your mouth with your hand."  
  
"I can't believe you!" Kim shouted. "You're still having a hissy fit over that?!"  
  
"A _hissy_ fit?"  
  
"You're pissed because I wouldn't agree to go on some kind of crime spree with you?" Kim rolled her eyes. "You actually thought I might say yes?"  
  
"Of course not," Shego hissed. "After all, I'm just so far beneath the one and only Kim Possible, so pure she was carved out of soap! You must look at me like the trash that sticks to the bottom of your shoe."  
  
Kim gaped at her, flabbergasted. "What are you _talking_ about?"  
  
"Don't mind me," Shego said sullenly. "I should have remembered our roles. You're Kim Possible, saint. And I'm Shego, unreliable, untrustworthy deviant. I mean, the idea of me being your equal must have seemed so bizarre."  
  
"Shego, that's not true. You know I - "  
  
"Then why do I have to do all the fucking work?!" Shego exploded. "I'm the one telling you about my torture! I'm the one sharing how I used to feel about you! I'm the one expected to divulge all my personal thoughts, because this is all about trusting each other, so every day it's another test. And you? You like my clothes? What, am I supposed to just trust you _automatically_, because you're such a _good_ person? Why should I trust someone who doesn't even respect me?"  
  
"If you're looking for me to approve of the choices you've made, Shego, stop," Kim said, but she was shocked by Shego's words. She'd questioned whether they were making any kind of connection, and all along it was Shego who was unable to trust her. She hadn't talked about herself? What was there to talk about? Her life the past five years had been relatively _boring_. It was hard to talk about breaking up with your first boyfriend in college when the other person had been imprisoned and beaten for years.  
  
She sighed. "And you can't expect me to trust you when you're always believing the worst of me," she added calmly.  
  
"That's just what I was thinking yesterday," Shego shot back.  
  
Kim turned away for a moment. "Maybe we tried too much, too fast," she finally said, looking back at Shego.  
  
"What?"  
  
"There's trust, and then there's _trust_. If the two of us are in a fight, do you trust me not to let you get hurt? To push you out of a bullet's path? To come to your aid if you're surrounded?"  
  
Shego folded her arms and looked away. "I guess," she muttered.  
  
"Would you do all that for me?" Kim asked. "Tell me you would, and I'll believe you."  
  
"Would you?"  
  
Kim nodded.  
  
" . . . when the chips are down, I've got your back," Shego finally promised.  
  
"That's good enough for me," Kim replied. "But do you think of me as a friend?"  
  
Shego snorted. "No," she said quickly.  
  
"Then I guess we should just settle for allies, rather than trying to be friends, which obviously we're never going to be," Kim told her without emotion. "Don't go too far, don't lash out, don't ruin our chances. Because when we're in action, I consider you my equal, Shego."  
  
The brunette seemed to be mollified by her words. "All right then," she said grudgingly.  
  
"You can shower first," Kim added. "You're right, you need it more than I."  
  
"Thanks," Shego said, her expression unreadable.  
  
As Shego disappeared into the shower room and closed the door behind her, Kim walked away, feeling like she'd lost the chance for something special that day.  
  
On the other side of the door, Shego used her arm to wipe bitter tears away.  
  
_________________________________________  
  
Kim and Shego stood in front of Senior's latest crew. They looked.  
  
The men looked back.  
  
Senior looked at them all from his platform.  
  
Rufus perched on the platform railing near Senior and waited.  
  
Finally Shego made a noise of disgust and stormed off.  
  
One of the men looked at the others and jerked his thumb in the direction she'd gone. "Who was that?" he asked.  
  
"Some of you _are_ old enough to remember us," Kim said crossly.  
  
Shego reappeared with a large blackboard. "I swear, it's like déjà vu," she muttered. Then she glared at the men. "Since our faces weren't enough of a _reminder_, I'll give you all a hint."  
  
She drew "KIM POSSIBLE" and "SHEGO" in large white letters. Folding her arms, she waited expectantly.  
  
As looks of comprehension dawned in many eyes, one man looked to his right. "Which is which?" he whispered.  
  
"Here," Kim said soothingly to Shego, who trembled with rage. "Before you blow a gasket." She took the chalk away and drew arrows below the names pointing to each woman. "Now, are there any questions?"  
  
One of the older men in front raised a hand.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Shego's done nothing for years," he said suspiciously. "And you're retired. _And_ you're one of the good guys. So why should I follow you anywhere?"  
  
Kim and Shego shared a glance. "I guess we have to," Kim said.  
  
"Fine with me," Shego snarled, annoyed that her wrathful looks alone hadn't reduced the men to quivering lumps of terror.  
  
"May we?" Kim asked, turning to look at Senior.  
  
He waved a hand. "Try not to break anything. These men will be going into action soon."  
  
Shego nodded. "I'm good for all of them," she said to Kim. "How about you?"  
  
"I think we're going to have to share," Kim replied.  
  
Then they catapulted forward and kicked two of the men in the chin with high kicks. Their motions were so identical, it was hard to believe they hadn't choreographed them in advance.  
  
Senior quickly lost interest, the outcome not being in much doubt. "I have never met a talking rodent before," he said to Rufus. "How did you come by the ability to speak?"  
  
Rufus smiled and shrugged.  
  
"Did you come into contact with some kind of mutagenic ooze?"  
  
Smile. Shrug.  
  
"A bite from a radioactive spider?"  
  
Smile.  
  
"Were you transformed from a human into a mole rat by an evil sorceress?"  
  
Shrug.  
  
"Where did young Stoppable come by you?"  
  
"Smart Mart!"  
  
"Ahhh," Senior mused. He turned his cell phone on. "It's me," he said after the person he was calling answered. "I need you to get me all the information you have on Smart Mart, including the kind of money it would take to buy the company . . . yes, that's right, Smart Mart . . . just do it!" he added irritably before severing the transmission.  
  
Kim rammed her knee into her opponent's chin, having doubled him over with a blow to the belly. "It's nice to hit something that doesn't block your attack 99 times out of 100," she thought out loud.  
  
She didn't notice the burly fellow behind her, fingers clasped together in one big fist as he raised his arms above his head.  
  
"Kim, duck!"  
  
Kim's instincts completely took over as she bent over. She felt Shego's hands press against her shoulders briefly, but she was looking down and couldn't see what was happening.  
  
What was happening was Shego running toward Kim, vaulting over the redhead, and twisting her body parallel to the ground as her foot rocked the man across the face. His entire body swayed to the right from the impact, and he landed on the ground.  
  
Kim stood up and looked at them. "Thanks," she said breathlessly.  
  
Shego turned her head. "I guess you really do trust me," she responded quietly. "With your health, anyway," she added.  
  
Kim would have trusted Shego with her life as well, if the other woman wasn't so inveterately suspicious and angry. She didn't say this, however. She would say nothing that could either break their fragile truce, or send their relationship once again in a direction that obviously they weren't ready for. "The fighting seems to have stopped," she said instead.  
  
"I only got six," Shego replied. "You?"  
  
"Six. Where are the others?"  
  
They both looked to their right and saw the remaining twelve men cowering against the wall. "Hey, any of you want to join your friends?" Shego called out, gesturing to the other men groaning as they lay prostrate.  
  
They all shook their heads.  
  
"A tie. Damn," Shego muttered. "Just one more?" she pleaded.  
  
"Come on, Shego," Kim said, walking away. "I think we made our point." She turned sideways and looked at Senior's men. "So, if we say jump?"  
  
"How high!" they immediately said in unison.  
  
"Not bad," Shego said. "How about a real workout?"  
  
"Maybe we can break a sweat this time," Kim answered.  
  
_____________________________________  
  
"Well," Mr. Acceptable said reasonably.  
  
Mrs. Acceptable sat next to him. Her demeanor was calm, almost Buddha-like.  
  
Their three eldest children sat around the table. Their expressions were blank, but within they regarded their father with fear and their mother with loathing. Because this meeting had been called because of her. Mother wasn't happy with the current situation, so she had to unleash Psycho Dad on them.  
  
"We haven't been able to track down this Oryx girl," their father said. "Despite round-the-clock surveillance, we have learned almost nothing from the friends and family of Kim Possible. And after all this time, there is still no sign of Kim Possible _or_ Shego."  
  
He pushed a button gently and one of his children was randomly selected to be shocked through their chair. It was Yvonne, and she jerked.  
  
"The three of you," he went on, "have brought shame upon the Acceptable name. Because your performance has been anything but acceptable. Oh yes, it has been most unacceptable."  
  
His wife smiled complacently as he pushed another button.  
  
Wide metal bands shot out of the younger Acceptables' chairs, trapping them in their seats. They looked alarmed, and well they should have been - this had happened once before.  
  
"AND YOU WILL LIVE UP TO YOUR NAME, OR YOU WILL NOT LIVE AT ALL!" he suddenly screamed at them, pounding the table with his fist before activating a switch that sent electricity coursing through his children's bodies at a voltage four times the usual amount.  
  
He made a disgusted sound as he turned off the juice, allowing them to twitch and cough in their chairs, slowly recovering from the assault.  
  
"I think it's time we became more proactive," Mrs. Acceptable finally spoke. She'd never given the least indication that her children's pain affected her.  
  
"Your mother is right," her husband said.  
  
"She's . . ." John began to say, but Don gave him a look of death. "Absolutely right," John finished sullenly.  
  
"Of course she is," Mr. Acceptable told them. "I think we need to take a member of Possible's circle into custody."  
  
"Stoppable?" Yvonne asked, her ears perking up.  
  
But Mr. Acceptable shook his head. "When Possible learns of the abduction, she will surely come right to us. She will bring her foolish sidekick with her, and then we shall have them both."  
  
"Then who?" Don asked.  
  
"What child doesn't need their mother?" Mrs. Acceptable asked innocently.  
  
There was no response. The three teens were all suppressing their first answers. Don would gleefully have let John finish his earlier thought, but their father was in such a frenzy - thanks to "good old Mom" - that any punishment could easily strike all three, not just the offender.  
  
"Tomorrow," their father told them, "we will bring Dr. Possible inside. We will give her daughter a couple days to arrive, and if that fails to work, we can begin extracting the information we need."  
  
The malicious looks on the faces of the younger Acceptables suggested they all felt certain "emotions" could be worked out on Kim Possible's mother.  
  
To be continued . . . 


	9. Chapter Nine

Author's Note:  
  
By now most of you have seen the Team Go episode that aired on Friday. Those familiar enough with this story will have noticed the sudden conflict - Shego's green glow comes from super powers, not her gloves as I have written. This was based on an assumption on my part, combined with what one or two people had told me. Since no one ever wrote me to say, "Those are her powers", I assumed I was right. Now it appears that I, and perhaps the rest of us, am learning I was wrong.  
  
I am officially announcing that I am exercising my writer's prerogative, and the events that take place in the Team Go episode do not take place in my story. Consider my story an AU, if you will. The reasons for this are:  
  
1. As mentioned above, earlier chapters in my story have directly or indirectly referred to the powers Shego's gloves have.  
  
2. My plans for future chapters, including the one you're about to read, require that her powers come from her gloves.  
  
3. If it wasn't for the above two reasons, I would try to work with this episode. But to be honest, I wasn't entirely happy with Shego's portrayal in this episode. It was certainly believable - you'd have to be a pretty evil person to create something like "Shegoton". But the sight of Shego keeping her brothers' powers and using them for her own purposes was a bit too heartlessly evil for my tastes. I prefer to think of her as . . . rude, obnoxious, easily bored, and having little respect for laws, rules, and authority ;) (Or, as I told one of my readers, "a little less Demona, a little more Fox".), and so I was hoping to see a kernel or two of good from her. For that reason, I could try to reconcile Team Go's Shego with my Shego, but thanks to the whole powers/gloves thing, I don't have to make the effort.  
  
Anyway, I hope you all continue to enjoy this story, as it moves toward its climax.  
  
Sincerely, Allaine  
  
_____________________________________  
  
Title: An Unacceptable Sitch (9/??)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: None that I can think of.  
  
Feedback: As this is my first story in a fandom I've only begun following in the last month, I hope everyone will give me their opinions.  
  
Disclaimers: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Shego, Wade, and all other characters from the Kim Possible television series belong to Disney, its television production arm, and the creators and producers of the animated series. The Acceptable Family and all original characters are my invention. I seek no profit from writing this, and expect none.  
  
Summary: Kim and Ron are twenty-one and living apart at college, while Team Possible has been replaced by an entire crime-fighting family. But Kim finds the original is usually still the best after a surprise visit from a desperate former enemy.   
  
_____________________________________  
  
Chapter 9  
  
"I hope you enjoy your stay," John Acceptable sneered as he punched in the security code.  
  
"You'll never get away with this," Dr. Possible replied calmly. "I'm a respected and well-known member of the community, and people are going to notice, especially given the ham-handed way in which I was abducted."  
  
"We're counting on someone noticing, all right," John said as the door silently slid open. "Your daughter, that is."  
  
"Leave my daughter out of your plans," she retorted.  
  
"You don't know what my plans are," he answered back, "although I could describe them to you." His smile grew lascivious. "They do involve nylon cords and a headboard."  
  
She looked at him icily. "You're obviously a very disturbed young man," she said.  
  
"Probably," he said, shrugging. "I know I have serious mother issues." He punctuated the word "mother" by forcefully shoving Kim Possible's mother into her cell, so that she struck the wall awkwardly and slid to the floor.  
  
Dr. Possible rubbed her elbow as she looked up. John stood over her, so that the dim lighting was obscured. "We'll let you acclimate for a couple days," he said, smirking, "and if your daughter hasn't shown up by then, you'll have to tell us where she is."  
  
"Even if I knew, I wouldn't tell you," she snapped.  
  
"Been there, heard that," he told her. He turned halfway and pointed to the darkened cell across from hers. "You can tell us what we want to know, or you can be stupid like she was. We introduced her to a world of hurt, and in the end, she told us what we wanted anyway." John grinned. "But don't say anything yet. That's fine. Like I said, I've got this thing with mothers, and I wouldn't mind working out some of my frustrations on you." He pivoted on his heel and walked out without another word, allowing the door to slide shut behind him, locking her in.  
  
She moved carefully forward in her small cell until her fingers struck the clear plastic barrier that might as well have been iron bars, it was so thick. In the middle was a small handle, and when she pulled on it, she discovered it opened a small drawer in the door, probably for passing trays in and out.  
  
"He was right . . ."  
  
The hairs on Dr. Possible's neck stood up at the words, spoken in a whisper that was almost ghostly. The red lighting wasn't exactly conducive to seeing things, and she looked about for the speaker. "Hello?" she asked nervously.  
  
"He was right, but he was wrong, Dr. Possible."  
  
"Who are you?" Dr. Possible asked, surprised. "Where are you? And how do you know my name? Are you one of them?"  
  
There was a dry, mirthless laugh. "No, I'm not one of them. Remember me? I'm the stupid one."  
  
Dr. Possible finally realized that the woman in the cell opposite from hers was using the opening in her door to communicate, much as she was. But all she could see was a shapeless mass in the other cell. "So if you're one of the prisoners, how did you know my name? He never said it."  
  
The woman turned her head, so that Dr. Possible could finally see the features on the right side of her face. "I saw your face," she said.  
  
"So?"  
  
"Your photograph was in your daughter's file."  
  
Dr. Possible stared. "I'm sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about. Photograph? File? You know Kim? Who are you?"  
  
"A fellow doctor, though medicine is not my specialty. My name," her fellow prisoner said, "is Dr. Director."  
  
"Dr. Director?" Dr. Possible asked. "That name sounds familiar. I think - my daughter may have mentioned you once."  
  
"When I knew Kim Possible," Dr. Director replied, "I was the head of an organization called Global Justice."  
  
Dr. Possible's memories returned to her. "Now I remember," she said. "You were the head of a kind of super-spy network, right? Kim helped you on a couple missions?"  
  
Dr. Director nodded her head. "I was quite fond of your daughter, actually. I think she could have been the greatest GJ agent ever, if she'd been so inclined."  
  
"But what is someone like you doing _here_? And what did you mean when you said John was right and wrong?"  
  
"So many questions," Dr. Director sighed.  
  
"I'm sorry," Dr. Possible began to apologize.  
  
"No, don't," the other woman said. "It's nice to have someone to talk to. While I was head of Global Justice, I observed the Acceptable Family on some of their crime-fighting missions. Since your daughter was no longer active on that front, I hoped they would prove worthy successors. But . . . I didn't like them. My intuition told me something was wrong with them. When I met them in person, they raised red flags in my mind. They were too smug, too careless of the safety of others. I thought they lacked a sense of responsibility. They did not compare well to your daughter, Dr. Possible."  
  
"I totally agree with you," Dr. Possible replied. "So what happened?"  
  
Dr. Director chuckled. "They got me out of the way. They must have sensed my disapproval, and because they wanted GJ to trust them, they arranged for me to have a little 'accident'. I was forced to retire. That made it much easier for them to find and kidnap me."  
  
"But if you were no longer in charge of Global Justice, why did they need you?"  
  
The other woman looked down. "They wanted my secrets. They wanted everything I knew about GJ. The Acceptable Family's ambition is to dominate the world some day, and that makes conflict with GJ inevitable. They needed my knowledge to plan an eventual attack on headquarters."  
  
"And John said you wouldn't give it to them," Dr. Possible said. "Or at first you wouldn't, anyway."  
  
Dr. Director raised her head again. "I lasted through six months of torture, you know."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize - "  
  
"Don't bother," Dr. Director said gloomily. "I should have died before giving them the information. That's why he was right, and wrong. I was stupid not because I refused to tell, but because eventually I gave in. The daily beatings, the whippings, the electrocution . . . I should have been stronger. But John Acceptable is a resourceful interrogator. He understands the balance between the threat of pain, and pain itself."  
  
"I don't understand," Dr. Possible replied, chilled by the list of things she might have to look forward to.  
  
"You can't just hurt someone," Dr. Director explained. "Pain can be tolerated after a while. It's about inflicting the maximum amount of pain possible without your victim blacking out, and then threatening to do it again. The thought of a second experience is a terrible thing, Dr. Possible."  
  
She turned so that she facing Dr. Possible, and she brushed her hair back.  
  
Dr. Possible gasped in horror.  
  
"Even now, remembering how John Acceptable hacked off my left ear gives me chills," Dr. Director said woodenly as her hand exposed the glaring scar on the side of her head. "But when he threatened to remove the other ear the same way - well, that wasn't something I could take. I wish I had been stronger." She let her hair fall back down.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Dr. Director," Dr. Possible said compassionately.  
  
"I'm sorry too," she replied. "Sorry for the GJ agents who will lose their lives some day because of me. At least it hasn't happened yet. If it had, they would have taunted me with the information." She turned back the other way so that Dr. Possible was looking at her profile again. "You'll pardon me if I don't look you in the eye," she added, patting the left side of her head absently, "but as you can imagine, I'm a trifle deaf in this ear."  
  
"I'm surprised you can find humor in your situation," Dr. Possible said.  
  
Dr. Director might have laughed at that, but it came out as more of a grunt. "I can even take solace in the fact that John Acceptable told me that he could never make love to a woman with one ear and one eye." She bowed her head. "You can draw any conclusions that you like from that."  
  
Dr. Possible needed a few moments to digest what she'd heard and seen. Even then, she had no idea what to tell this woman. "If you don't mind," she asked hesitantly, "did you lose your eye because of the Acceptables too?"  
  
"No, that was more of an on-the-job injury, actually. And you should be asking these things. You need to know what you're mixed up in. Besides, I have been lonely here."   
  
"I see," Dr. Possible replied. "When I leave here," she added, "I'm making sure you come with me."  
  
Dr. Director laughed dryly. "What makes you think people leave here?"  
  
"Why do you think they want my daughter?"  
  
"I assumed they were tying up loose ends," Dr. Director said cautiously. "Removing anyone who could conceivably stop them."  
  
"Did you know someone escaped from here?" Dr. Possible asked.  
  
"No, I didn't," Dr. Director said, surprised. "Who? You don't mean _Kim Possible_ . . ."  
  
"No, thank heavens," Dr. Possible told her. "She was in college last month, actually, until Shego came to her for help."  
  
"Shego," Dr. Director mused. "So you're saying the two of them are together."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And the Acceptables are so nervous about this that they've taken you as a hostage."  
  
"They shouldn't be nervous," Dr. Possible said. "They've never seen my daughter when she's angry. They should be terrified."  
  
"I've seen footage of Shego when she's angry," Dr. Director replied. "I'd be terrified too."  
  
They were silent for a moment. "So when we get out of here," Dr. Possible finally said, "maybe you and I could talk some more, one doctor to another."  
  
From what Dr. Possible could see, Dr. Director's lip seemed to curve upward. "I think I would like that, Dr. Possible."  
  
___________________________  
  
Kim was just preparing to dodge a punch from Shego when her Kimmunicator going off distracted her.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"Sorry," Shego said while Kim sat on her rear, rubbing the side of her head. "If you're going to stop defending yourself, I need more than a quarter of a second to stop attacking."  
  
"I'm sure you didn't enjoy that," Kim muttered as she got up and went over to the shelf on which the beeping device sat.  
  
Shego's lopsided grin was all the answer Kim needed. "Wade, what's the sitch?" she asked, looking skyward. Then she saw the face on the view screen. "Dad?"  
  
"Kim, it's your mother," her father said quietly. "She's been kidnapped."  
  
"The Acceptable Family," she said out loud, instantly knowing who was responsible. Her stomach turned to ice.  
  
"We don't know that for sure," he warned her. "She was getting out of her car this morning, according to witnesses, when a white van pulled up. Whoever was inside pulled her in by force, and the van drove away. Still," he acknowledged, "it does seem to be the general opinion that the Acceptables are behind this."  
  
"They must be getting impatient," Kim mumbled, looking at Shego. She thought of the ways Shego had described her interrogation sessions, and the look on Shego's face told Kim that such thoughts were on the brunette's mind as well. "How are the tweebs, Dad?"  
  
"I - haven't told them yet. They're still at school. I was hoping this has all been some kind of mistake, and your mother was going to call any second to tell me she's all right," he said, sounding quite worried.  
  
Kim nodded. "When you tell them," she responded, "tell them she'll be home soon. I'm bringing her back."  
  
"I'll do that," he said somberly. "I'm sure you will, Kim. But be careful. And I love you."  
  
"I love you too, Dad," she whispered. Then she turned off the Kimmunicator. It hurt her to see the look in his eyes.  
  
"Kim?" Shego asked.  
  
"Get dressed," Kim growled, letting her anger wash away her fears. "We are leaving _now_." Without even waiting to see how Shego would respond, Kim turned around and marched away to find Senior.  
  
Shego watched her leave thoughtfully. After a minute she casually began walking in the direction Kim had gone.  
  
_________________________  
  
"What do you mean, we can't?" Kim burst out at the elderly man.  
  
"My men are not ready," Senior Senior said, unperturbed as he watched the men he'd hired training. "If we are to carry out the plan effectively, we cannot attack with men who are ill-prepared."  
  
"Maybe you weren't listening," Kim retorted. "They have my _mother_."  
  
"Yes, and they have my son," he snapped. "They have had him for years, and they taunt me with invoices for his room and board!" He visibly calmed himself, something Kim didn't appear interested in. "So you see, you and I want the same thing, and we want it now. But sometimes you can't have what you want, when you want it. That was a lesson you taught me quite forcibly when you were younger."  
  
"Believe me, I get that your son's imprisonment has been made as hard as possible," Kim said. "Which is why I have to save my mother as soon as I can - _before_ they start hurting her."  
  
Senior shrugged. "Fine. Go then. I'm sure you will get far."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"I am under no obligation to help you," he said. "I will transport you off this island, yes. But after that, you can handle the rescue mission on your own. I will thank my men for their services and send them home. Hopefully I will have another chance to save my son before I die, a chance that will not be wasted so foolishly," he added sardonically.  
  
Kim began to grow truly angry. "Look," she began, jabbing her finger under his nose.  
  
"Can it, Possible."  
  
"Stay out of this, Shego," Kim said without looking at the woman who had spoken behind her. "You're getting your revenge without having to wait any longer. You've told me how much you hate the waiting."  
  
"I also hate having the shit beaten out of me by the Acceptables," Shego replied, studying her fingernails, "and that's what is going to happen if we go running over there like they want us to."  
  
"They do not take prisoners thoughtlessly, Kim Possible," Senior pointed out. "They imprisoned Shego and my son, not because they were perceived as a threat - no offense, my dear."  
  
"I'll pretend none was taken," Shego said wryly.  
  
"But because Dr. Drakken and myself were seen as the threat," Senior continued. "They want your mother because they want you. Certainly they will try to get information from her regarding your whereabouts, but I suspect they don't think they'll need to, because they think you will go rushing into the crocodile's jaws."  
  
"I've seen you and gators, Kim," Shego told her. "You used to be avoid their teeth, not walk right in. And he's right. They'll wait a couple days before they try anything with your mother, if only to make her sit and wonder what they'll do first."  
  
"But I can't wait a couple of days!" Kim shouted. "I can't stay here and wonder what they're doing to her, and I can't ask my family to do the same."  
  
Senior looked at her calmly. "Fine," he finally said. "Obviously we need each other. We will go with the plan ahead of schedule, _but_ I will require at least eight hours to give the men last-minute instructions. Besides, the idea is to attack at night, and the sun will not set in Middleton for some time yet."  
  
Kim sighed, feeling her anger subside. But a nervous tension settled in her bones. "All right," she said. "If you say she'll be okay until then." She looked at Shego, daring her to contradict her earlier assertion.  
  
Shego nodded. "There's always a chance, Kim, but they're fat and lazy over there. They'd rather you come to them, so they can spring their trap and show you how smart they are."  
  
"To be honest, they waited much longer than I expected to make this move," Senior said. "It has given us all time to prepare."  
  
Kim knew this was true. Certainly the weeks of incredibly intense physical training had left her in the best shape of her life. She could see how her upper body strength had improved from the increased muscle mass when she looked in the mirror. No longer a teenager, Kim knew she was at a level her sixteen-year-old self could only have dreamt about.  
  
"For example," he went on, "I spoke to some of the best evil scientists in the world about possibly recreating the gloves the Acceptables stole from you, Shego."  
  
Her eyes widened. "You got my gloves?" she asked, stunned.  
  
"Regrettably, no," he apologized, and she deflated. "The technology was not something they could recreate. They were amazed such a thing existed, actually. The power source, the ease with which you were able to activate and deactivate them - where on Earth did you get such things?"  
  
Kim was curious, too. Shego had remained stubbornly quiet about her past, and the gloves had been no exception.  
  
"Maybe you should have spoken to better scientists," Shego said. Her tone suggested the topic was closed, and Kim shook her head.  
  
"Perhaps," he admitted. "But, I was able to commission this prototype." Senior went over to a long box on his desk, and opening it, he removed a pair of long black gloves with sharp fingerpads.  
  
Shego gasped. "What are those?"  
  
"Try them on and see," he invited her.  
  
She went over to his desk and, almost gingerly, slipped them on. "They fit perfectly," she murmured.  
  
"I'm told you need to snap your fingers," Senior said.  
  
Snapping her fingers, Shego waited for something to happen, but nothing did. "What's the big idea?" she asked, irritated.  
  
He picked up a paperweight from his desk and gently lobbed it toward her.  
  
She deftly caught it out of the air. "What are you . . ."  
  
Within a second, the paperweight became white with frost. Shego squeezed it slightly, and it shattered in her hand. "Cooool," she whispered.  
  
"Literally," he agreed. "I'm afraid you won't be able to fire any sort of missile blasts with those, but they will have a deep-freezing effect on whatever you touch. As I was saying, the scientists were amazed that you had such gloves when you first began your career as a criminal, but that was several years ago, and technology has progressed significantly since then. They offered several alternatives to your green fire, and I thought you might like these."  
  
Her eyes sparkled. "Want to spar a little, Kimmie?" she asked cunningly.  
  
"No thanks," Kim said quickly. "We're leaving in eight hours, like he said, so you've got plenty of time to freeze everything in the gym."  
  
Shego laughed evilly.  
  
"You have a very nice evil laugh," Senior told her. "Why could you never teach my son that?"  
  
"Too busy teaching him to defend himself, I guess," she muttered.  
  
Kim folded her arms. The Acceptables had crossed a line with her, and she was going to kick them back across it.  
  
___________________________  
  
"How long will we wait?" John asked, bored as he perched in a chair.  
  
"Before what?" his father asked.  
  
"Before we start working on the mother."  
  
"I don't think we'll have to wait more than a day," Mrs. Acceptable said, smiling coolly. "If Kim doesn't show herself by then, we'll get the truth out of her mother. Say, morning after next?"  
  
John smiled and nodded.  
  
"What about Stoppable?" Mr. Acceptable asked.  
  
Don casually clicked his mouse, and an image of Ron Stoppable appeared on one of the monitors. "We have him under video surveillance," he said. "He's in his car at the moment. He's headed away from our base - to the gym, possibly - but he could be going to meet her. When he does, we'll follow their every step."  
  
"Excellent," Mr. Acceptable replied. "How hard will it be for her to get in?"  
  
"She'll probably try a back way," Yvonne said. "We've disabled some of the security measures - not enough to make it easy to break in, but enough to make it doable. You're sure you want her to get in?"  
  
"Once she's in, she won't be getting out," Mrs. Acceptable reminded them. "None of them will, if she's bringing Shego and Stoppable like we suspect."  
  
"So much for Team Possible," Don said contentedly.  
  
Then the room was rocked by the tremors from a powerful explosion below.  
  
"What the hell was that?" Mr. Acceptable roared.  
  
Don and his mother rapidly typed away at their keyboards. "Someone just fired a powerful laser blast at our front entrance," Don growled, getting cameras onscreen.  
  
"Two helicopters," Mrs. Acceptable said flatly. "One appears to be landing, and armed men in uniform are disembarking. The other one is hovering in midair, and - "  
  
Another explosion sent new tremors through their feet.  
  
"It's continuing to fire on our front defenses," she finished.  
  
"This can't be Possible," Yvonne muttered. "It's not like her at all."  
  
"We're getting a video transmission from one of the choppers," Don reported.  
  
"Let's see it," his father ordered.  
  
"Greetings, Acceptable Family," Señor Senior Senior said on their screen.  
  
"What are _you_ doing here, decrepit old man?" Don asked.  
  
"I have received your latest 'bill'," Senior retorted, waving a piece of paper in his fist, "and this amount is pure extortion!"  
  
"They've all been extortion," John sneered.  
  
"Well, this decrepit old man has enough life in him to enjoy seeing you die for what you've done to my family," Senior shot back.  
  
"Kids, why don't you go downstairs and greet our visitors?" Mr. Acceptable said gruffly. "Show them the same courtesy you showed Mr. Senior's last party of guests."  
  
"I could use the relaxation," John said cockily before rushing out of the control room.  
  
Mrs. Acceptable calmly rose from her seat and moved to another part of the room, fiddling with random knobs. She didn't like this - Senior's arrival was timed too conveniently with the abduction of Kim Possible's mother. The idea that Senior and Possible were coordinating their attacks was laughable, but so was the idea of Kim Possible helping Shego.  
  
Making up her mind, she darted out of the room without telling the others. This was a good chance for all her kids to learn how to play together.  
  
"How did he get here without our noticing?" Mr. Acceptable asked as Senior ended his transmission.  
  
"Must've flown in below radar," Don said.  
  
"Well, John's on his way. The two of you go on. I'll be down shortly."  
  
Don and Yvonne looked surprised. "You haven't fought in the field in three years, Father," Yvonne reminded him.  
  
"This isn't the field. It's our home, and a man has a right to defend his home," he replied coldly.  
  
Shrugging, she hurried out, and Don followed closely behind her.  
  
"Mrs. Acceptable," her husband began to say, but then he realized she was gone. Surprised, he shook his head and headed for the ground level.  
  
______________________________  
  
Oryx couldn't feel the explosions, but she could hear them. The past few weeks had been tense nights in Middleton. She'd spotted three separate ambushes where ordinary-looking citizens were being followed by one or more Acceptables. "At least I've learned how to spot a trap," she muttered.  
  
When she'd spotted two helicopters flying unusually low in the direction of the Acceptables' hideout, she'd waited only for a second before beginning to leap from one rooftop to another in pursuit.  
  
Getting closer, she was surprised to see the mass of men pouring into the building that disguised their base of operations, while the second helicopter fired on the structure. "I've got to get these people off my back if I want to go on doing this," Oryx said to herself. "Maybe this is my one chance."  
  
Checking that her stun gun was fully charged, she began skirting the edge of the property, looking for a less "lively" entrance.  
  
___________________________  
  
"Tell me again why we're bringing _him_," Shego said acidly as they lurked in the shadows behind the Acceptables' hideout.  
  
"Hey, I may have been crushing on you when I was a teenager," Ron hissed, "but that was then, and I don't need any crap from you. If I want grief from a woman, I go to my personal trainer."  
  
"You crushed on me?" Shego asked. "Like, you fantasized about me? Ewwww! I feel grubby just considering it!"  
  
"Quiet, both of you," Kim said. "Team Possible includes Ron, and that's that. Although if you want me to think of you, Shego, the next time I need someone to run away and lure five guys with him, I can do that."  
  
"Thank you," Ron said. "Hey, what did that mean?"  
  
Kim looked up at the walls above them. "It looks like an office building," she said.  
  
"It's supposed to," Shego told her. "You can't just build a secret lair without making it a secret. Don't you know anything about building a hideout?"  
  
"I never did take Villains 101," Kim said.  
  
Ron looked mistrustfully at Shego. He'd switched cars with his mother as soon as he got the signal that Senior had started his attack, and he'd changed into the old black shirt and cargo pants in the car. He also had a naked mole rat in his pocket, but this would be her first time fighting evil. "You ready, Ruby?" he asked, patting his pocket.  
  
A little pink head popped out. "Uh-huh," she squeaked.  
  
"Ruby?" Kim asked.  
  
"If you were a girl, would you want to be called Rufus?"  
  
"If I was a boy, I wouldn't want to be called Rufus either," Shego muttered.  
  
Ron didn't exactly want to go up against the entire Acceptable Family with just Kim, but he didn't like the beautiful but deadly Shego, and if Kim was ever in trouble, he would be the one to help, because he didn't trust Shego to do it. "If I was a girl," he retorted, "I wouldn't want to be called Shego."  
  
Shego growled at him and flashed her claws past his face. A whiff of icy air tickled his nose.  
  
"Enough," Kim hissed. "We're going in."  
  
To be continued . . . 


	10. Chapter Ten

Title: An Unacceptable Sitch (10/??)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: None that I can think of.  
  
Feedback: As this is my first story in a fandom I've only begun following in the last month, I hope everyone will give me their opinions.  
  
Disclaimers: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Shego, Wade, and all other characters from the Kim Possible television series belong to Disney, its television production arm, and the creators and producers of the animated series. The Acceptable Family and all original characters are my invention. I seek no profit from writing this, and expect none.  
  
Summary: Kim and Ron are twenty-one and living apart at college, while Team Possible has been replaced by an entire crime-fighting family. But Kim finds the original is usually still the best after a surprise visit from a desperate former enemy.   
  
_____________________________________  
  
Chapter 10  
  
"That was too easy," Shego muttered as they leaned against the wall inside the Acceptable hideout.  
  
"That was . . . easy?" Ron asked, gasping for air.  
  
"They know we're coming," Kim said.  
  
"But we know they know," Shego pointed out.  
  
"Yeah, but do they know we know they know?" Ron wondered.  
  
Shego looked at him with unmitigated irritation. "Shouldn't you be off somewhere, running away from things?" she sneered.  
  
"Shut up!" Kim hissed. "I don't want to have to separate you two."  
  
Ruby popped her head out and stuck out her tongue at Shego.  
  
"Ron, give me your Kimmunicator," Kim told him.  
  
Wordlessly he handed it over.  
  
"Wade?" she asked, activating it. "Are you getting this?"  
  
"There's a little interference," Wade said. His voice crackled slightly. "Then again, I've heard a rumor that your location is under attack."  
  
Kim smiled angrily. "Our location is under siege, Wade. Now it's time for you to do your stuff. The Acceptables hacked into your software, so now I need you to return the favor. Anything interesting you find, you let me know on my Kimmunicator, all right?"  
  
"Will do," Wade said.  
  
"Wasn't he with Global Justice?" Ron asked as Kim set the communication device on the ground. It sprouted wheels and took off down the corridor.  
  
"Cute," Shego commented dryly. "Can Mortimer Snerd pop a wheelie with that thing too?"  
  
"Shego," Kim said patiently. "Is it possible for you to be serious for one minute?"  
  
Shego looked annoyed. "This is how I stay relaxed on a mission. You know that."  
  
"Yeah, but I need you to focus. Where are we in relation to the holding cells?"  
  
"Down," Shego said after a moment. "We need to go down. There are four wings, all on the same floor. If we go down a floor or two, we should locate any one of the prison wings."  
  
"Thanks," Kim replied. "Let's move."  
  
"And if we run into the Acceptables?" Ron asked.  
  
"We try not to at this point," Kim told him, although Shego scowled at that remark. "But if they see us, we do what we have to."  
  
"We flatten them," Shego said murderously.  
  
"Boo-yah," Kim muttered.  
  
"Hicka bicka boo," Ruby chittered.  
  
________________________________________  
  
"So, you even charge me for the cost of electrocuting my son, do you?" Senior said, his lips pulled back in a grimace. "Allow me to return some of the energy, then!"  
  
He pushed the button and another laser blast struck the front walls near the entrance, gouging large chunks of concrete.  
  
He was so close to the base that he barely heard the warning sirens for more than a second before the surface-to-air missile struck his helicopter, forcing him sharply downward. Exasperated, he grabbed the stick with both hands and pulled up mightily, but his age made a near-impossible task hopeless. The chopper careened downward and crashed on its belly just fifteen yards from the building.  
  
"Well," he said, coughing as he removed his seat belt, "any crash you can walk away from . . ."  
  
"Who said anything about walking?"  
  
Senior looked up and saw two feminine hands grab him by the lapels and yank him from the cockpit. "I wouldn't expect you to respect your elders," he told Yvonne Acceptable.  
  
"My brothers are mopping up the losers you sent ahead," Yvonne replied. "Where'd you get them, you scrawny old fart? Beggars and thieves?"  
  
"My bodyguard came from Smart Mart, actually."  
  
"Who?"  
  
Rufus leapt out of his jacket pocket and sank his teeth into the flesh below her right thumb.  
  
Yvonne screeched and began waving her hand frantically, but he wouldn't let go.  
  
"And this scrawny old fart has learned that sparing the rod spoils the child," Senior added, taking his cane from the helicopter and whipping it with all his strength into the back of her knee. Her leg buckled, and he slid his grip downward, driving the gold knob-shaped handle forward into her nose. It didn't break, but blood splashed out and onto his hands.  
  
Enraged, Yvonne spun on her heel and struck him in the temple with her other foot. He collapsed like a sack of flour.  
  
Rufus unlatched his grip on her hand and ran into the building before she could stop him.  
  
"Come on!" she snarled, grabbing Senior by the collar with her uninjured hand and limping back into the building. She found her father and brothers putting the finishing touches on the last of Senior's men.  
  
"Hey, sis," John jeered. "Did the old man give you a hard time?"  
  
"I was distracted," she growled, dumping Senior on the ground. "Some kind of rodent came out of his clothes and bit me."  
  
"A rodent?" Don asked alertly, coming over. "Where is it now?"  
  
"I don't know, it ran into some bushes."  
  
"What did it look like?"  
  
"Sort of a pink, hairless gopher," she recalled.  
  
Don Acceptable glanced at his father. "A naked mole rat," he said.  
  
"Doesn't Ron Stoppable have a pet mole rat?" Mr. Acceptable asked.  
  
"He does," John agreed. "I saw it several times when I was monitoring Stoppable."  
  
"So did I," Don said.   
  
"Why would the old fool have a naked mole rat, the same kind of animal that Possible's sidekick has?" their father asked.  
  
"We could ask him," Don snapped, "if our sister could control him without knocking him unconscious!"  
  
Yvonne glared hatefully at him. "You can bite me too."  
  
"And would someone deactivate the alarms?" Mr. Acceptable added. "The threat is over, and they're giving me a headache."  
  
Don went over to a computer console and patched in. "Oh, shit," he said.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Two more alarms went off since the first one," he said rigidly. "The first one was someone breaking in through the back. The second one was someone has accessed a prisoner's cell without proper authorization."  
  
"It's Possible!" the father realized. "She used Senior as a diversion so we'd be distracted."  
  
"Senior and Possible?" John asked.  
  
Don made a disgusted sound and smacked his forehead. "How much you bet that's where they've been hiding? With the enemy of their enemy, aka their friend?"  
  
"When this is over," Mr. Acceptable said almost reflectively, "remind me to have his island sunk."  
  
_____________________________  
  
Señor Senior Junior looked up groggily from his bed at the womanly silhouette standing at the door. Oh God, she was feeling frisky again. "Please, Yvonne, not tonight," he begged. "I still haven't recovered from what your brother did to me."  
  
"What's the first thing every villain needs?"  
  
He stared. That _wasn't_ Yvonne's voice, and those words were oh-so-familiar. "I know it's not an evil laugh," he replied carefully.  
  
"Freedom to commit crimes," Shego said. "Come on, we're getting you out of here."  
  
Junior staggered to his feet and, with a primal yell, leapt through the air, tackling Shego into the hallway and wrapping his hands around her throat. "So, my old teacher, you couldn't spare two minutes to take me with you?!" he roared. "Do you know what those lunatics did to me after you were gone?"  
  
"Dude, I like the effort, but could you save it for the _really_ bad guys?"  
  
He looked up, and the expression on his face was almost comical. "You?! Eh, what was your name again?"  
  
"Jeez! Can't one person remember my name?" Ron complained.  
  
"Sorry about that," Shego said, knocking his hands away.  
  
"Shego! I found her."  
  
Junior relaxed. "Was that Kim Possible?" he asked, amazed.  
  
As Shego pushed Junior off, she saw the fresh bruises. "Again with the sorry," she added quietly. "But I brought your father this time."  
  
"My father is here?!"  
  
"Come on, Junior," Ron said. "We left markings for you to follow. You'd better move it before someone notices we're here."  
  
Shego ran over to where Kim was kneeling by one of the cells nearest the doors. "You're sure you're all right?" Kim was asking.  
  
"Really, Kimmie, I'm fine," her mother replied. "Admittedly I've seen and heard things here that I may have nightmares about, but I'm just glad to see you."  
  
"Shego," Kim said.  
  
Once again Shego put her claws against the opening mechanism, as she had many times already. The circuits frosted, then froze, and then cracked and shattered. The door slid open noiselessly, and Dr. Possible took her daughter in her arms. Shego looked away uncomfortably.  
  
"Thank you, Shego," Dr. Possible murmured.  
  
"It's not over yet," Shego said flatly. "We still have the Acceptables to worry about."  
  
"Don't worry, she's always that way," Kim assured her mother.  
  
"Please, don't forget her," Dr. Possible said, pointing at the cell opposite hers.  
  
"Who?" Kim asked as Shego deactivated another set of doors.  
  
"Hello, Kim Possible," Dr. Director said as she carefully stepped out.  
  
Kim was shocked. "_Dr. Director_? What happened?!"  
  
"It's a long story," she replied. "And Shego is right, you must stop the Acceptables. They have information that could be used against Global Justice with terrible consequences."  
  
Shego looked at her. "They got to you too?"  
  
Dr. Director nodded. "Shego. What did they do to you?"  
  
"Broke three fingers. You?"  
  
She showed them her missing ear. "Surgery without anesthesia."  
  
"Huh," Shego said, as Kim looked on, horrified. "You were stronger than I was."  
  
"Were any of us strong enough?"  
  
"As depressing as all of this is," Kim interrupted, "we've got to get you out of here. Any minute now the Acceptables will know we're here, and you need to be out of the crossfire."  
  
Dr. Possible quickly hugged her daughter, and Dr. Director squeezed her arm. "I'll expect you for breakfast in the morning," she whispered in Kim's ear.  
  
Kim nodded, her eyes moistening. "Okay."  
  
"As for you," Dr. Possible added, looking at Shego, "for the rest of us, make sure you do something fitting to that John Acceptable."  
  
"You can count on it," Shego said. Her gaze smoldered.  
  
Then the two older woman were rushed away by Ron.  
  
"Kim!"  
  
"Wade, what's the sitch?"  
  
"Four Acceptables heading toward the prison floors!"  
  
"Thanks, Wade. We'll take care of it. How's the hacking coming?"  
  
"They think they're the smartest, but they're not. Ask me again in ten minutes."  
  
Kim put the Kimmunicator away. "Ready?"  
  
Shego only nodded.   
  
__________________________  
  
"Could you move a little quicker?" Don asked Yvonne irritably. They'd split up. John and their father had gone to the other side of the building.  
  
"He hit me behind the knee," she said waspishly. "Give me another couple minutes."  
  
"Girls just can't take a hit," he sneered.  
  
Kim dropped down from the ceiling above them and, landing on her feet, drove the heel of her palm into his chin. His teeth nearly cleaved his tongue in two. "You wish you could fight like a girl," she mocked him.  
  
"Possible!" Yvonne screamed.  
  
Don spat blood and flexed his muscles. "Fell right into our trap, didn't you?"  
  
"Really? Who was lying in wait for who again, exactly?"  
  
His eyes narrowed. "You'll never escape."  
  
"I don't plan to escape," she said. "I'm walking out the front door."  
  
"Enough with the stupid banter," Yvonne snarled as she sprang at Kim.  
  
Kim neatly caught Yvonne by the wrists and, planting her foot in the other girl's chest, fell back and flipped Yvonne through the air. She landed flat on her back.  
  
Don's fist, however, rocked across her cheekbone, and she saw stars. "Can't beat us both, you know," he taunted her.  
  
He felt a tap on his shoulder and, instinctively, he turned around.  
  
"Hello again," Shego said before savagely punching him in the nose.  
  
Don stumbled backward, clutching his spurting nose. "Little girl's gotten her game back?" he said, his voice muffled.  
  
Yvonne stood up, but Ron caught her from behind, wrapping his arms under her armpits and holding her in place.  
  
"You've hurt everyone I care about," Kim said coldly before burying her first in Yvonne's stomach.  
  
Meanwhile Don and Shego were grappling. Don's fists were in Shego's hands, and they fought for dominance over each other.  
  
"I'm bigger and stronger than you," he reminded her.  
  
"Cold hands, cold heart," she retorted, letting go of his hands.  
  
Suddenly conscious of a numbing cold, he looked down and discovered his fists were encapsulated in ice. He looked at them stupidly.  
  
Shego smiled and, putting a finger to her lips, blew. A icy breeze danced across his cheek. Then she dropped down and swept her leg, knocking his feet out from under him. "I bet you're getting chills just thinking about how I'm going to kick your ass."  
  
___________________________  
  
"Mr. Acceptable?"  
  
He stopped, putting a hand to his ear. "Yes, dear?"  
  
"Kim Possible, Shego, and Ron Stoppable have Don and Yvonne outnumbered, and possibly outgunned," his wife said over the commlink, sounding exasperated. "Would you and John head over to the east wing and bail them out?"  
  
"Right," he said. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Taking care of some garbage downstairs."  
  
She severed the connection and turned back to the computer consoles, reattaching the headband to her forehead. Wires connected the band to various computers, as did more wires attached to bands on her wrists. "I'm back, sweetie," she said out loud, her voice surprisingly loving. "And we're going to have lots of fun tonight."  
  
___________________________  
  
"Kim!"  
  
"Kinda - busy - now," she growled, trading blows with Don.  
  
"John and Pops are on the way. I hacked into their communications."  
  
"Damn," she said.  
  
"Yeah, but you'd better shift the fight. You've got to get downstairs to the ground floor."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because - well, you have to see it to believe it," he told her, "but Senior Senior and those men of his are in real danger."  
  
Kim spun and planted two punches in rapid succession in Don's torso, driving him back. "Got it," she panted. "Shego! Ron! We've got more coming! We need to move downstairs!"  
  
"Fine by me," Shego grunted, shoving Yvonne into the wall. "I need more room to move anyway."  
  
"You'll have to get by us first, Kim Possible."  
  
Kim looked up and saw Mr. Acceptable and John were now at the other end of the corridor. And the three of them were suddenly boxed in, two Acceptables in either direction. "Which way?" she murmured to Shego.  
  
"Don and Yvonne are beat up," she said, "but I really want to do something to pretty-boy's face."  
  
"Father, look out!" Don suddenly called out.  
  
Only Don had seen the small black shape descend from the shadows above his father. Mr. Acceptable turned around, only to be kicked in the stomach rather than the back. The effect was the same, sending him stumbling to his knees.  
  
"You!" John gasped. "How did you get in here, Oryx?!"  
  
"Who is _that_?" Kim asked.  
  
"Whoa, the Oryx," Ron said, whistling. "I read about her in the papers. She's Middleton's new crimefighter. A _real_ crimefighter. Hey wait, I thought she was the Onyx."  
  
"Oryx!" she called out. "With an 'R'!"  
  
Kim and Ron stared at each other. "Did that sound like . . ." Kim began to say.  
  
"Shit, can we go now?!" Shego yelled at them, grabbing them both by the arm and running toward John and his fallen father.  
  
John tried to defend himself, but Shego's eyes blazed like headlights as she fell on him like a hyena on carrion. She struck him in the face with her elbow before grabbing him by the arm and throwing him over her shoulder. He landed on his father.  
  
"Kim? Ron?" Oryx said, startled.  
  
"Monique?" Kim asked as they ran together, away from the recovering Acceptables.  
  
Oryx pulled her mask off halfway and revealed the face of Kim's best gal pal. "Been a while, Kim."  
  
"What are you doing as a crimefighter?"  
  
"Someone had to, Kim. No offense. And these clowns are obviously not it."  
  
"But where did you learn to fight?"  
  
"Pro wrestling."  
  
"Steel Toe, baby!" Ron shouted.  
  
Monique smiled and pulled her mask back on.  
  
_____________________________  
  
"Wade, we're almost there," Kim said as they approached the center of the ground floor, which apparently served as a hangar for their ground and air vehicles. "What's - whoa."  
  
The four of them stood still in the entrance, as the large robot completed its ascent through the floor. It was standing motionless, as a large hydraulic lift carried it through an opening in the floor. It was about thirty feet tall, and its shadow dwarfed them all. When it stopped rising, it took two hesitant steps backward, allowing the lift to drop back down and the opening to close again.  
  
"Dontcha think you coulda mentioned that, Shego?" Ron asked quietly.  
  
"I didn't know!" Shego said flabbergasted. "But we left the others behind, and the only one left is . . ."  
  
"Well, well, well," Mrs. Acceptable's voice echoed across the hangar. It was silky with menace. "Everyone we've been looking for, here for the taking. Your gambit was deft, Possible, but I have the ultimate advantage now. Soon you, your friends, and even that old man Senior will be nothing more than memories."  
  
"Getting tired of letting the kids do your work for you, huh?" Kim retorted, trying to think of how she could respond to this new threat.  
  
The robot bent over, its spherical, blank head drawing near. "I thought you knew, Kimmie," she said. "I do have a fourth child."  
  
A circular opening appeared on the face of the robot, allowing them to see inside.  
  
Kim gaped.  
  
"Uh, KP, why is there a baby in there?" Ron asked.  
  
"Kim, meet my youngest son, Thomas Ronald Acceptable," the mother said.  
  
"She does have good taste in names, anyway," Ron added.  
  
"Also known as T. Ron Acceptable. Or the newest member of the Acceptable Family, Tron Acceptable. He may be less than two years old, but he does come with a few cybernetic implants that help make what you see before the most technologically advanced cyborg on the planet. Robot body, human brain - guided by the wisdom of a loving mother, of course . . ."  
  
The robot's fists began to glow green.  
  
"And some very useful plasma technology," she added.  
  
"Those look familiar," Shego snarled, infuriated.  
  
The baby gave no sign of noticing them, and well it didn't. All it saw were a hundred images of his mother's face, inviting him to indulge in what was known as the "terrible twos".  
  
"Guys, I hear the others coming," Monique said hurriedly. "Maybe we should move somewhere else?"  
  
Tron pointed his hand at them, and the green glow intensified.  
  
"Yeah, I think we all know what's coming," Shego pointed out.  
  
The four dashed to their left, and the green plasma burst exploded against the floor, missing them by only a few yards.  
  
They skirted the edge of the room, taking refuge behind some barrels of aviation gas, as the remainder of the Acceptables came into view. "Whoa!" John blurted. "Baby brother!"  
  
"Now what?" Monique asked. "Do you even have a plan?"  
  
"Don't worry, dears," Mrs. Acceptable told them sweetly. "I could see you weren't doing very well. Let Mother and baby handle it."  
  
Don ground his teeth.  
  
Kim and Shego looked at each other. "Yeah, we have a plan," Kim said. "And I think now it might work even better than ever."  
  
To be continued! . . . 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Title: An Unacceptable Sitch (11/12)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: None that I can think of. But see introduction to Chapter Nine for discussion of the Team Go episode.  
  
Feedback: As this is my first story in a fandom I've only begun following in the last month, I hope everyone will give me their opinions.  
  
Disclaimers: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Shego, Wade, and all other characters from the Kim Possible television series belong to Disney, its television production arm, and the creators and producers of the animated series. The Acceptable Family and all original characters are my invention. I seek no profit from writing this, and expect none.  
  
Summary: Kim and Ron are twenty-one and living apart at college, while Team Possible has been replaced by an entire crime-fighting family. But Kim finds the original is usually still the best after a surprise visit from a desperate former enemy.   
  
_____________________________________  
  
Chapter 11  
  
"We still need a way to take out that robot," Shego pointed out when Kim had finished explaining the plan to Ron and Monique. Kim was still trying to wrap her brain around Monique becoming a masked heroine, but that could wait until after.  
  
"We need to find the mother," Kim corrected her. "She's obviously directing it from somewhere. If we can take care of her, then maybe we can turn that thing off."  
  
"We could just destroy it," Shego said.  
  
"There's an innocent baby inside," Kim shot back. "We can't let him get hurt."  
  
"He's another one of _them_," Shego replied darkly.  
  
"He's a toddler!" Kim said, shocked. "And maybe if we can just get him away from his twisted family, he might have a chance to grow up to be something normal. Unless you really want to hurt a two-year-old."  
  
Shego looked away. "I do have my limits," she muttered.  
  
"Fine," Kim said.  
  
"Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth," Ron interjected, "but why hasn't the robot tried to kill us lately?"  
  
Cautiously they raised their heads above their hiding place. Once again the robot was frozen in place.  
  
"Is it a trap?" Monique asked.  
  
"KP."  
  
"Wade?" she said, getting the Kimmunicator out.  
  
"I bought you a few minutes, so if you can think of something, hurry," he told her.  
  
"Wade, what did you do?"  
  
______________________________  
  
Mrs. Acceptable pounded the keyboard with her fists. "Damn you, you little hacker!" she spat venomously. "You can't keep me out for long!"  
  
Tron drooled as he stared transfixed at the images of Teletubbies bouncing across his monitors. He gurgled happily.  
  
______________________________  
  
"I'd suggest broadcasting those images at the older Acceptables," Kim said, "but that's a little too cruel and unusual, even for them."  
  
"I can't hold on much longer, Kim."  
  
"Got it."  
  
Shego cart wheeled out from their hiding place and ran to another sheltered spot. "Hey, John!" she called out. "You get any feeling back where I kicked you last month?!"  
  
John straightened at the sound of her voice. "All I hear are the last words of someone about to die, Shego!"  
  
"Then again, did you ever have any feeling there to begin with? You always seemed like a real limp dick to me!"  
  
John balled his fists and seethed. The smirks from his siblings didn't help.  
  
"Try to stay together," Kim said to Ron and Monique, before she darted out and ran in the opposite direction from where Shego had gone. She dove into a alcove. "You know," she called out, "when Shego warned me about the Acceptable Dynasty, I didn't realize it was going to be a dynasty of one!"  
  
"Shut up, Possible!" Don yelled.  
  
"Real snappy comeback, Don," Shego sneered.  
  
"Totally," John muttered.  
  
Don shoved him.  
  
"How long you going to hide behind your mommy's apron, Johnny?" Shego asked loudly.  
  
With the shortest temper of the three, John boiled with rage.  
  
"I've never met someone who runs to his little brother because the other kids are picking on him!"  
  
"Guess Mom can make you take out the garbage whenever she wants!"  
  
"With Tron around, who needs the three of you?!" Kim asked slyly.  
  
Don and Yvonne looked at each other uneasily.  
  
"Hey, don't worry, Kimmie," Shego called back. "I'm sure if he asks nicely, Mommy will let Johnny carry the diaper bag!"  
  
Johnny screamed with pure rage. "If anybody kills you, Shego, it's going to be me!"  
  
"Lame-o!"  
  
Still screaming, he began running across the hangar bays, heading directly for Shego's hiding place.  
  
"John, no! You little fool!" Mr. Acceptable swore.  
  
If insulting him was meant to appeal to his reason, it was a bad idea.  
  
Shego grinned and sank her claws into the barrel of gasoline. The metal quickly gleamed with a rime of frost.  
  
As John got close, she picked it up high enough to throw it towards him. It didn't travel far, but the metal had been completely frozen by her gloves, and the metal drum split into two halves. The oily contents remained in a liquid state and spilled out across the floor, coating everything.  
  
Just thirty feet away, his feet flew out from under him.  
  
Mrs. Acceptable could only watch with impotent rage. "Damn you, John, you're in the way!" His pratfall didn't help her mood.  
  
John struggled to his feet, hurt more by Shego's derisive laughter than by the fall. As he did, she dipped her hands in the gasoline and it swiftly became a sheet of ice. And since John was standing in it, the soles of his shoes were frozen to the floor. He looked at Shego hatefully and tried to free himself.  
  
"Looks like you need a little _leverage_," Shego said, sliding across the ice on the flats of her feet and striking him with a powerful uppercut, breaking the ice and landing him on his back yet again.  
  
"Damn it, Don, help your brother!" their father ordered.  
  
Wanting to defeat Shego, and by doing so further embarrass his brother, Don didn't argue. He ran forward instead.  
  
"No double-teaming," Kim said, shaking her head, as she leapt from her hiding place and ran to intercept him.  
  
"Kim Possible," Yvonne breathed, her eyes gleaming. She began approaching, but she moved quietly so Kim wouldn't hear her coming.  
  
Ron was looking their way, however, and he had no difficulty seeing her. "KP!" he shouted, but she didn't seem to hear. "Wooo-ahhh," he said, assuming an exaggerated martial arts stance.  
  
"Ron," Monique hissed, knowing this couldn't end well.  
  
He had no intention of leaving Kim alone out there with three Acceptables, a giant robot, and most of all, Shego. He jumped atop one of the barrels protecting them from view, balanced precariously for a moment, and then charged at Yvonne.  
  
"Great," Monique muttered, looking around the hangar and seeing only Mr. Acceptable watching with impotent rage. "I'm stuck with Father Knows Best."  
  
She did not go rushing pell-mell toward him, however. The Oryx was silent and deadly, so she stealthily moved along the perimeter of the room and allowed herself to blend in with her surroundings.  
  
Don and Kim were bound to meet first, and they did as Kim dove forward and tackled him around the ankles. He cried out as he fell forward, landing on his stomach. "Damn you, Possible!" he snarled as he turned his head and got a look at his attacker.  
  
"So not going to happen, Donny," she said. "Or should I call you Marie instead?"  
  
Getting up, he surprised her by, instead of assaulting her, pulling a handgun out from the small of his back. "Now, you stupid girl," he began to say as he brought up the gun in both hands, having smashed the ice off of them earlier. Kim froze at the sight of the barrel. The hole seemed impossibly large. "Now you'll - "  
  
Unfortunately, he dropped the gun.  
  
She looked at the gun, then at him. He looked at the gun, then at himself. "Huh," he muttered. "Guess my fingers are still kind of numb."  
  
"Goes with your brain," Kim said, kicking the gun away and then lashing out with the other foot, hitting him in the shoulder.  
  
_________________________________  
  
"A-Ha!" Mrs. Acceptable cackled triumphantly as she banished the last of those embarrassingly sickening TV characters from both her son's monitors and her own. "Now we can have . . ."  
  
She was greeted by a high-pitched wail.  
  
"Oh, damn," she hissed. "Tommy, sweetie?" she cooed. "Um, I'll let you watch as much of that show as you want. Just first let's blast those bad girls, okay?"  
  
T. Ron Acceptable didn't seem especially mollified, as he hit her with an even louder shriek. She reeled back in her chair.  
  
"Honey, please, lower your voice," she said anxiously. "It will only take a minute for you to . . . " Her face twisted with rage as she looked at the security footage and realized every one of their enemies was currently locked in battle with another member of her family, depriving Tron of any kind of open shot. "Can't you control our fucking kids for two minutes?!" she screamed at her husband.  
  
Unfortunately, she'd forgotten she was still patched in to her youngest son, and her infuriated screams only frightened the child. He started crying harder.  
  
Mrs. Acceptable was getting a migraine, and not from the circlet on her brow.  
  
_________________________________  
  
"Why don't you just give it up, She-goat?" John sneered as he fought back with greater success. "You and I both know I've seen the real you - the sniveling, whimpering, crybaby!"  
  
Shego fought back passionately, but the look in his eyes as they fought, the way they sparkled with humor-laced contempt as he undoubtedly replayed the image of that one awful torture session in his head over and over again - the memory loomed in the back of her mind now, and instead of making her boil with fury as it usually did, now that she faced John Acceptable the humiliation slid into her heart like an icicle. "You're a real asshole, John," she muttered as she threw a punch that was blocked.  
  
"No more witty repartee?" he asked mockingly. "Fired the last of your bullets?" She grunted as he blocked another punch and kicked her in the side. "Just so you know, you already have a death sentence on your head, but we haven't decided anything yet for Kimmie. I think when this is all over, I'm going to enjoy making her bawl like a baby."  
  
He tried a straight kick to her abdomen, but Shego felt a cold kind of fury slide over her as she deftly twisted and caught his leg in her arm. She rammed her other elbow into his knee and he dropped. "You will never bring that kind of shame on anyone else, ever again," she said, her hands trembling with loathing. She grabbed him by the shirt and, pulling him upright, viciously backhanded him across the face with her claws outstretched.  
  
Searing lines of pain erupted across his face as he fell backwards again. He reached up, and his hand came away bloody. Shego's sharp glove had left three diagonal parallel cuts across his face, narrowly taking an eye out. "How dare you!" he howled before he threw a wild and poorly judged haymaker at her head.  
  
Shego caught his wrist in both of her hands and twisted mercilessly, making his lips stretch in a soundless cry of pain. His fingers uncontrollably spasmed, and she squeezed tighter. "You really want to relive that moment?" she asked hatefully. "You want to hear those words again?"  
  
She grabbed his middle finger and pulled back with a ruthless jerk, snapping the bone cleanly.  
  
John shrieked as he writhed.  
  
"That's not what I want to hear, _Johnny_!" Shego snarled. "I'm bored of hearing you scream! Remember, Johnny? I want your tears! I want to see you CRY!"  
  
She bent his index finger back so far that it almost pointed directly back along his arm. Then she took both broken fingers and mashed them together, aggravating the pain doubly. "Break down and cry, you little bitch! Remember that, too?" she asked, not even realizing tears of her own were running down her cheeks. "You wanted me to know who was the stronger one! Well, get a good look, you bastard, because you're _looking_ at her!"  
  
John could only hang limply from her grasp, unable to stop the sobs.  
  
She suddenly felt disgusted. "How could I ever give up to a weakling like you?" she asked herself.  
  
Then she glanced over at Ron, who was closer than Kim was. "Hey, Stoppable, you want to trade? I've got no further use for this guy."  
  
"Uh, sure, I softened her up good for you!" Ron called back, fighting with Yvonne and gradually losing.  
  
"Softened _me_ up?" Yvonne said. "When I'm through with you, you're going to be tenderized!"  
  
She heard an odd sound behind her. It sounded like a tiny raspberry. Then she felt a stinging pain in her rear.  
  
"Aaaaaaa!" she screamed, turning and spotting the mole rat Rufus, who had evidently returned for another go-round with her. "Get off me, you little vermin!"  
  
"Ruby, get her!" Ron said, pointing at Yvonne as he opened his pocket.  
  
Ruby leapt out and attached herself to Yvonne's face.  
  
"AAAAA!" Yvonne screamed twice as loudly. She began spinning madly, trying to pull the one off her backside and the other off her face. Her panicky movements weren't helping. "I _hate_ mole rats!!"  
  
"Here's that fresh meat you ordered, Shego," Ron told her, putting his foot against Yvonne's back and propelling her toward Shego.  
  
Shego pulled John to his feet and shoved him in the other direction.  
  
Ruby saw him coming and nimbly crawled up Yvonne's face, putting her paw in the woman's eye and then almost getting tangled in her hair before leaping through the air and sailing into Ron's waiting arms. Rufus was already scampering back across the floor toward him.  
  
Yvonne and John were hopelessly unable to prevent running into each other at full speed. They fell to the floor in a mess of arms and legs.  
  
"Good work, guys," Ron said to the two rodents. "You'd better get out of here before Optimus Preemie over there wakes up."  
  
Rufus winked at Ruby, and the two hurried away.  
  
Shego grinned ferally as she jumped on top of Yvonne and began hitting her in the face, using her knees to keep Yvonne down. Ron just belly-flopped onto John. Soon the four were rolling around.  
  
__________________________  
  
"That's a good boy," Mrs. Acceptable whispered, having finally coddled her child into doing as asked. This really was a year or two earlier than she would have liked, but she'd felt she had no other choice. "Now where are those little brats?"  
  
She realized she couldn't see their surprise guest, Oryx. She wasn't fighting any of the Acceptable children. Most likely she was still hiding behind those barrels. Which, from the look of them, were a horrible place to hide from a robot's super-sized plasma bursts.  
  
"Tron," she said gently. "See over there? Fire on that spot, and you'll see lots of lights and flashes. It will be fun."  
  
Tron evidently liked the sound of that, as the robot raised its arm at last and quickly fired short bursts at the barrels that completely incinerated both them and anything that might have been behind them. A couple barrels skyrocketed in the air, leaving trails of burning gasoline behind them. "Oooo," Tron said in wonder as that part of the hangar became a small inferno.  
  
The Oryx had been a thorn in their sides, and by taking Kim Possible's side, the nuisance had been upgraded to a real threat. Eliminating her was satisfying, but the true targets were still alive.  
  
Her stomach shriveled to see Yvonne and John being completely humiliated by Shego and Ron Stoppable. "Tron," she said wrathfully, "get them. Get them both."  
  
She directed the robot's cameras to focus on Shego and Ron, still locked in combat with Tron's older brother and sister. He failed to act, feeling hesitant. Even for a toddler like him, his brain knew John and Yvonne as "family", and hurting them would get Tron in trouble.  
  
"It's all right, Tron," Mrs. Acceptable assured him. "I want you to, really. Those two have annoyed me for the last time."  
  
Which two she was talking about wasn't specified.  
  
Still, Tron carefully pointed a hand at the brawling foursome and began to power up for another shot.  
  
________________________________  
  
"Uh-oh," Kim muttered as she watched the robot spring to life again, obliterating their old hiding place. "Big boy's awake."  
  
Then she looked around. "Mo?" she called out, unable to see her anywhere. She could see Ron with Shego, but - "MONIQUE!"  
  
"Who is Monique?" Mr. Acceptable said to himself, befuddled.  
  
"Maybe she has me confused with someone else," Monique said behind the mask as she surprised him from behind, striking him in the solar plexus.  
  
He glared at her. "So you are the Oryx my children have been flummoxed by."  
  
"And you must be the _lummox_ who fathered them," Monique retorted. "Would you be offended if I said your parenting skills bite?"  
  
"I can bite too," he said, smiling nastily as he raised his fists.  
  
"You're just sick," Monique said. "I don't think I want to talk to you any more." She sprang in the air and, locking her legs stiffly together, bowled him over with a drop kick.  
  
Kim caught the movements of the matte-black heroine and breathed a sigh of relief. But then she cried out as Don struck her powerfully in the kidneys with both fists. She fell to her knees, her insides screaming. The kick he delivered to her stomach rolled her over and left her on her back.  
  
"John and Yvonne might be hopelessly out of their league," he told Kim, "but I've always been the best of the bunch."  
  
"Well your entire bunch is rotten," Kim spat. Then she looked over his shoulder at the robot's hand swiveling over to aim at - Ron and Shego. "Ron!! SHEGO!"  
  
Don turned his head and stared. "Johnny and Yvonne are in the way. What the hell is she thinking?"  
  
Shego and Ron looked up at Kim's cry and saw the glowing hand preparing to fire at them. "Now do you see what it's like for us?" Ron asked.  
  
"Just shut up," she growled as they both jumped away in different directions.  
  
Yvonne shook her head as she got to her hands and knees. "I'm getting a cat," she mumbled dazedly. "And we're gonna wipe those hairless rodents off the map . . ." Then she gaped. "Uh-oh," she whispered.  
  
Tron fired.  
  
Through more familial instinct than any sisterly love, Yvonne pulled her brother up by the arm and tried to get out of the way. The blast just missed them, but it landed close enough that it knocked them both flying. They landed in two small heaps.  
  
Mrs. Acceptable scowled and pounded her fist. "Get the green girl and her friend, Tron," she urged him.  
  
The plasma burst had returned both Acceptable kids to their senses, even as their near-destruction left both Don and Kim stunned. "Did she just try to kill us?" John asked his sister, confused.  
  
"She was aiming for the other two," Don said, shaking his head. "They would have taken the brunt of the blast."  
  
"Right, because your family loves each other _so_ much," Kim said below him. "Maybe you all should change your last names to Expendable, because you've just been replaced." She slowly got to her feet. "I can't imagine why, seeing as how good you are at your job."  
  
John shot up. "Mother!" he shouted. "If you think you can go on without me, you are frigging out of your mind!" Staring directly at one of several mirrored panels that ringed the hangar near the roof, he drew his own handgun awkwardly and, using his unbroken trigger finger, fired four shots into it.  
  
The glass shattered and fell, raining down on the metal floor. Mrs. Acceptable could be seen behind it, staring open-mouthed from behind a bank of computers, an odd contraption attached to her head. "John Acceptable!" she could be heard to shout. "How dare you fire your gun at your mother!"  
  
"Doy," Kim muttered. "And I thought the Addams Family was weird." Quickly she tripped Don. "Sorry," she said as she rushed off, "but I just found the girl I've been looking for."  
  
"We're not finished yet, you little bitch," he yelled as he went after her.  
  
"She's going after our mother," Yvonne guessed.  
  
"Not if I get to Mommie Dearest first," John growled.  
  
Meanwhile Shego and Ron were getting to their feet. "Where's KP?" Ron asked.  
  
Shego looked around. "Probably wherever the Acceptables are," she replied, realizing the three siblings had vanished as well.  
  
Ron glanced at Monique. "Hey, Mo, you need a hand?"  
  
Monique was busy struggling with Mr. Acceptable. "No - thanks - I - can - handle - this," she muttered sarcastically.  
  
Ron looked at Shego. "I guess she's good," he said ignorantly.  
  
Shego shrugged. "I didn't feel like helping her anyway."  
  
Monique grumbled under her breath and planted her foot in Mr. Acceptable's crotch. He went down like a ton of bricks.  
  
"Yeah, that's right!" Ron called after the now-vanished Acceptables. "You better run, because I got mad props in the fighting skills department!"  
  
"Have you been reading Drakken's book on slang?" Shego asked suspiciously.  
  
A wave of green fire passed over their heads, leaving a burnt black scar on the wall.  
  
"Besides, we still have one Acceptable to ourselves," Shego added.  
  
Ron gulped.  
  
____________________________  
  
"Nowhere to hide now, Shego," Mrs. Acceptable leered. "No one to hide behind. You should have stayed in your cell. It would have spared you the indignity of dying at the hands of a baby! Tron!"  
  
"There was a time when Shego dying probably wouldn't have bothered me very much."  
  
Mrs. Acceptable spun around. "Kim Possible! How did you find me?"  
  
"Hello? John Boy shooting out your plate-glass window?"  
  
"Oh, yes, right."  
  
"Anyway," Kim said angrily, "Shego trusts me to have her back, and I could never let her get hurt now."  
  
"You can't make me stop Tron," Mrs. Acceptable said nervously.  
  
"No, but I can knock you out and figure the rest out from here."  
  
"Kim Possible! Mother!"  
  
Kim Possible turned around and discovered all three Acceptable teenagers standing in the doorway. "No big," Kim said defiantly.  
  
"Kill her!" Mrs. Acceptable shrieked.  
  
"How about we kill you?" John snarled at her. "For trying to discard us permanently now that you have your darling baby fighting for you?"  
  
"And for that smug little Cheshire Cat smile on your face every time you just sat there while our father punished us!" Don added. "Usually because you put him up to it!"  
  
"Of course, we can kill Kimmie too," Yvonne pointed out.  
  
"Great," Kim thought.  
  
__________________________________  
  
Monique was sweating profusely through her outfit as she rolled around the floor, fighting a guy twice her age over her own stun gun. "Okay, now I _really_ need some help here!" she yelled.  
  
"Sure thing!" Ron replied. "Just a minute - aah!" He dodged out of the way, as Tron's foot missed him by a couple feet.  
  
Tron Acceptable had stopped firing at them, but now he seemed determined to stomp on them like they were a couple ants. The room seemed to shake a little bit more with every thunderous footfall.  
  
"Just great," Monique muttered as she felt her grip on the weapon weakening.  
  
"Hah!" Mr. Acceptable crowed. "Just like my wife and I in the old days."  
  
Monique smashed her head into his nose. "That was for you having what sounded like sexual thoughts about me," she retorted.  
  
Unfortunately the head movement made her grip more awkward, and he wrested it away from her, scrambling away. "Now," he said, holding it dangerously in front of her as she slowly rose, "you are on the _horns_ of a dilemma, Oryx?"  
  
"No wonder you retired," Monique said. "Your bantering ability is so forty years ago!"  
  
"EEEEEEE!"  
  
Monique and Mr. Acceptable's heads snapped up as they saw Mrs. Acceptable come flying through the window of her control room and land on the head of Tron Acceptable. Kim jumped out and landed on his shoulder a moment later.  
  
"What the hell?" they said in unison, and then they stared at each other, surprised.  
  
He swung savagely with the electrocution device, but she dove underneath the arc of his swing, hitting him headfirst in the chest and propelling them both toward the center of the room.  
  
Meanwhile, Tron Acceptable was growing increasingly frantic. The fact that he was so very young wasn't helping. Nor was the fact that his mother's voice had been disconnected once she had jumped from her seat in a desperate bid for escape from her infuriated children. Plus the fires caused by the flaming gasoline hadn't abated. In fact it had spread, and even though the fire couldn't hurt him, he was nevertheless becoming terrified of the burning flames, and the robot began to flail about. Stepping around the fires became more important than stepping on anyone in particular.  
  
"Now what do we do?" John asked as the three siblings stood just inside the shattered window, watching as Kim and their mother were reduced to holding onto the robot for dear life.  
  
"We watch," Don said calmly.  
  
"Baby, sweetie, it's okay, Mommy's right here," Mrs. Acceptable shouted through the metal sphere that housed her baby and millions in computer technology, but he was beyond hearing her.  
  
"Yeah, calm him down," Kim said from the other side of the robot. "Then I can climb over there and kick your ass."  
  
"Tron and I are going to _rule_ this world, Possible!"  
  
"You can't even rule your family without sparking a mass revolt!"  
  
Shego and Ron were meanwhile unable to help Monique, who had fallen to the ground locked with Mr. Acceptable. The stun gun had been jostled from his grip and slid across the floor - to another large puddle of gas, one that had escaped being ignited. It stopped there, the ends just touching the gas.  
  
Mr. Acceptable shoved Monique aside, who looked above her and saw the sole of one of Tron's giant feet coming down directly above her. "Oh, shit!" she yelped, rolling and narrowly avoided a squashing.  
  
Her opponent, however, half-ran and half-crawled across the floor to where her weapon lay. He grabbed the handle, accidentally activating it.  
  
A sudden whoosh of flame appeared as the entire puddle became ablaze. Mr. Acceptable screamed as he pulled his arm back, just missing having it badly burned. Tron, though, was not so lucky. Seeing the new threat appear right beneath his feet, he pulled back as much as he could, pitching the robot so off-balance that it began tilting backwards.  
  
"Oh God," Kim thought, feeling her stomach turn and knowing what was about to happen. Mrs. Acceptable just continued to scream annoyingly.  
  
Mr. Acceptable was focused on inspecting his hand for burn marks, however. Satisfied he had escaped injury, he raised his eyes.  
  
Just in time to see the capsizing robot falling onto him.  
  
The massive robot landed on its rear, completely erasing Mr. Acceptable from view, and with such an impact that the entire building shook violently. The Acceptable siblings all lost their balance but caught themselves just as they started to fall out. Their feet scrabbled uselessly against the metal wall as they tried to pull themselves up.  
  
"KP!" Ron shouted, horrified.  
  
  
  
"Kim!" Shego was unable to stop from screaming.  
  
Before Kim could even ask herself if she'd survived that, the heavily damaged floor gave way beneath the extremely heavy robot, and in a scream of tearing metal, the robot fell right through.  
  
This time, the tremors were so great that while everyone on the ground level was flat on their back, Don, John, and Yvonne Acceptable fell from the window and tumbled after the robot.  
  
When the others were at last able to raise their heads, all they could see was the head of the robot, one of its brawny arms the only thing keeping the whole thing from falling the rest of the way. By now fires had erupted practically everywhere that hadn't collapsed into what was now a very wide hole. "KP!" Ron called desperately.  
  
"Ron!"  
  
Ron started to run forward, but Shego grabbed him. "Hello?! Flames from hell? You do realize that stuff burns, right?!"  
  
"But we've got to do something!" he said as he struggled to escape from her grip.  
  
"She'll be all right," Shego said firmly. "She always is."  
  
In fact, Kim was not all right. She was clutching onto the robot's back as hard as she could. The mother was nowhere to be seen. And she could see the other kids below her. Don was holding onto one of the robot's feet. John had one of Don's feet, and Yvonne had John by the knees.  
  
Below them . . . "How deep is that?" she asked out loud, astonished.  
  
"Several hundred feet."  
  
Kim looked up and saw Mrs. Acceptable above her, straddling the head of the robot like it was a mechanical bull. Kim could still hear the baby crying inside. "There's a system of natural caves below our base," she explained calmly. "It's one reason we got the property. We've been storing a lot down here, such as the future of the Acceptables, Tron."  
  
"This thing's future is going to be over in five minutes!" Kim yelled back.  
  
"Pull, damn it," Yvonne was saying at the same time. "Pull us up!"  
  
"I - can't," Don growled. "You're too heavy."  
  
"How about I lighten the load?" John asked, his face twisted from the agony of holding Don's ankle while his hand had two broken fingers. He'd put his handgun back in its holster, but now he unholstered it and casually pointed it at Yvonne.  
  
"John, what are you doing?" Yvonne asked, alarmed.  
  
"Taking a dump!" He fired, hitting her in the shoulder. The impact cost her her grip, and she plunged into the darkness, screaming.  
  
John looked back up at Don, grinning madly. "Better?"  
  
"Yeah," Don said, his own eyes gleaming. "Thought it could be even better." He lifted his other foot and drove it into John's face. He yelled but managed to hold on. Another kick, however, left John holding onto Don's shoe by the barest of margins.  
  
John grimaced as he pointed his gun upwards. "I swear, Don. You do that once more, and I'm putting a bullet in you too!"  
  
Don laughed. "Then you'll fall anyway, dumbass."  
  
"Dying sucks," John admitted, "but at least I'll outlive the two of you!"  
  
Don looked at him thoughtfully, but then he smiled. "You're bluffing," he said, raising his foot one last time.  
  
John didn't bother to answer. Don would never hear it. He only pulled the trigger a second time.  
  
For an instant, Don continued to hold on, even as the bullet splattered his brains all over the robot's foot. John just smiled. He had outlived them both, as promised.  
  
Then Don's corpse fell, and John fell with it.  
  
Kim watched all this with utter horror. She rested her head against the metal, shutting her eyes and trying to block out the memory of those sounds - Yvonne and John's screams, Don's head caving in like that. Then she glared at Mrs. Acceptable. "Why didn't you DO something? They were your _children_!"  
  
"They were reminders of my past mistakes!" the mother shouted madly. "Whereas Tron is the hope of future success! Besides, they would have killed me first!"  
  
"I guess that's a lesson only one of us will ever learn," Kim said as she agilely ascended the robot's back. The robot was slowly beginning to drop under its immense weight, and if someone didn't get that baby out soon, it would die too.  
  
"What?" Mrs. Acceptable said hatefully, unable to retreat as Kim approached.  
  
"If you can't sacrifice yourself for your children," Kim said softly, now high enough that she could see Ron, Shego, and Monique through the flames, "then I will."  
  
Kim shot her hand out and grabbed Mrs. Acceptable by the blouse. She looked back at Kim dumbly.  
  
Then Kim turned and looked right at Ron. "Save the baby!" she shouted in a tone that brooked no dissent.  
  
"KP?" Ron said doubtfully.  
  
Kim pulled on Mrs. Acceptable with such force that both women fell backwards and tumbled into space.  
  
"KIM!" Ron shouted while Shego and Monique watched, dumbfounded. He started running again.  
  
"Get that kid out of there," Shego said to Monique before racing after him.  
  
Monique jumped like an acrobat as she made her way to the sliding robot.  
  
Shego meanwhile had taken Ron by the arm and was pulling him along with her toward the precipice. The flames singed their clothes, but neither paid any attention. "KP," Ron whispered, looking down and seeing nothing.  
  
But then he felt a tug at his waist. He looked down and saw Shego taking the hair dryer-grappling hook Wade had given him the other day. "What are you doing?!"  
  
She aimed and fired it into the hole, then put it in his hands. "If you drop this," she said warningly, "I'll come back and haunt you until you die."  
  
Then she dove after it.  
  
____________________________________  
  
As Kim fell, she allowed herself to float downward, not even screaming. Mrs. Acceptable's own screams had ended quickly as her head struck one of the robot's feet on the way down. She felt peaceful. Her family was safe. Her friends were safe. With the Acceptables gone, Tron could be raised by a normal family, one where he could be a normal kid and never have to worry about his psychotic family coming back for him. Maybe her parents even, since they were about to lose . . . And Shego wouldn't have to be afraid any longer.  
  
She was just sorry she'd never been able to include Shego in the "friends" category. If only Shego had let her.  
  
She continued to fall, eyes closed.  
  
Then her body jerked painfully.  
  
For a moment she didn't open her eyes. "Am I dead?" she wondered.  
  
"Damn it, Kim, stop hanging like that and give me your freaking hand! Doy!"  
  
Kim's eyes flipped open and her head rose. "Shego?" she asked incredulously.  
  
Shego was holding onto the front of Kim's cargo pants with one hand, and - her grappling hook was wrapped around Shego's other wrist. "It's a good thing you're wearing last year's baggy pants," Shego said wickedly, "or I wouldn't have had anything to hold on to. Now how about that hand?!"  
  
Almost expecting this to be some sort of death-induced mirage, Kim tentatively reached up. When she felt the strong, and very cold grip, she realized this was real. Shego was saving her.  
  
"Now climb!" Shego ordered.  
  
With Shego pulling, and Kim climbing, eventually the two of them were holding on to the end of the grappling hook with both hands. Their bodies were pressed together as they hung suspended. "Now what?" Kim asked.  
  
"Well, if your pal Stoppable has a brain in his head, he puts this little gadget of yours in reverse," Shego said.  
  
"No, I mean what happens now? I mean, we're all alive, right? And the Acceptables - well, aren't."  
  
Shego looked at her. "Well, this was a temporary alliance," she said, smiling. "I guess you and I are free to hate each other as much as we like."  
  
"You just saved my life!" Kim said. "And in a very dangerous way that could have gotten you killed too. Do you really expect me to hate you?"  
  
"Yeah, well," Shego muttered. "I don't know what I was thinking doing that."  
  
Kim sighed. "If I at least said 'thank you', would you be able to accept it?"  
  
Shego shrugged. "I guess," she said quietly.  
  
"Then thank you."  
  
" . . . You're welcome."  
  
"KP! Are you all right?!" From the sound of it, he was at least a hundred feet up.  
  
"C'mon, Stoppable, I don't have all freaking night!"  
  
"I'm okay, Ron! Thanks to Shego," she added softly.  
  
Kim almost thought she saw a hint of color in Shego's cheeks. Maybe there was something to the tan lines thing after all.  
  
To be concluded . . . 


	12. Final Chapter

To my readers,  
  
I feel a little vindicated now. More than one person has pointed out that their own website says that Shego's rays come from her gloves, not from any super powers. So if anyone is violating continuity, it's them :)  
  
Second, this is the last chapter of something that basically started as a whim. Thanks should go to Query, who helped get me to watch this show in the first place. Whether or not I write a follow-up depends on how much the readers want one, so if you have an opinion on that score, please post a review. I do want to point out that even if I do a follow-up, it will probably be at least a few weeks. I would need to dream up a new plot, and then find time to write it while working six days a week, and writing continuations of my Gargoyles fanfic (sorry, but that's the show that guarantees KP will never be more than the second-best TV series ever from the folks at Disney) and my JL-Always a Bridesmaid fanfic. So if I do decide to take a second trip, please be patient.  
  
Lastly, few have mentioned the identity of Oryx. I do know at least one of you guessed she was the girl from Japan, which was nice, because I knew then it wasn't _totally_ obvious ;)  
  
Thanks to everyone who has posted reviews, esp. those of you who have spoken up after virtually every chapter :) If I do another KP story, I may send it out on a mailing list as well, so if you want to give me your email address, I can put you on it.  
  
Anyway, let's get to the good part.  
  
Sincerely, Allaine  
  
____________________________________  
  
Title: An Unacceptable Sitch (12/12)  
  
Author: Allaine  
  
Email: eac2nd@yahoo.com  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: None that I can think of. But see introduction to Chapter Nine for discussion of the Team Go episode.  
  
Feedback: As this is my first story in a fandom I've only begun following in the last month, I hope everyone will give me their opinions.  
  
Disclaimers: Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, Shego, Wade, and all other characters from the Kim Possible television series belong to Disney, its television production arm, and the creators and producers of the animated series. The Acceptable Family and all original characters are my invention. I seek no profit from writing this, and expect none.  
  
Summary: Kim and Ron are twenty-one and living apart at college, while Team Possible has been replaced by an entire crime-fighting family. But Kim finds the original is usually still the best after a surprise visit from a desperate former enemy.   
  
_____________________________________  
  
Chapter 12  
  
That had been one of the benefits of living with Señor Senior Senior for a month - maid service. Kim grumbled as she continued scrubbing the floor.  
  
She felt her back pop as she straightened finally. "Ugh," she said out loud. "That's the problem with working out twelve hours a day. You can't keep it up forever."  
  
Thankfully, her Kimmunicator went off then. She reached into her back pocket and pulled it out. "What's the sitch, Wade?"  
  
"How's the new apartment working out?" Wade asked.  
  
Kim shrugged. "It's bigger, which means it takes longer to clean."  
  
"Didn't you start cleaning a couple weeks ago?"  
  
"The last tenant moved out months ago, I think. It's about finished, anyway. What's up?"  
  
"Got an interesting message which I was asked to relay," Wade told her. "From someone you haven't seen since that night in the Acceptable lair."  
  
Kim felt her heart leap. Shego . . .  
  
The next face she saw, however, was not pale skin and determined eyes framed by dark hair, however. "Dr. Director," she muttered, feeling a little disappointed. Shego had vanished so effectively last month, as if she'd been kidnapped all over again. It left things between them unsettled, just one of several things Kim had still to work out. Like Monique's nighttime activities, and her status at college, and -   
  
She firmly pushed that last thought aside so she could pay attention.  
  
"Kim Possible," Dr. Director said calmly, a ghost of a smile on her face. "I should begin by thanking you again for Team Possible's actions last month. Saving me was peripheral to the truly important act of stopping the Acceptables from attacking and perhaps destroying Global Justice one day. I have apprised them fully of the significance of your actions, and they want you to know that there is another offer outstanding for you to become a GJ agent. I am sure you could be a great agent, Kim, but I understand if you decline."  
  
Kim wondered if she would. Her future was very much an uncertain thing, compared to a few months ago. Maybe it bore some looking into?  
  
"Certainly, however, you will not see me at GJ headquarters if you ever return," Director continued. "By breaching security and turning over highly classified secret information to the Acceptables, I am considered a security risk, which I agree with. I will never be eligible for another assignment there, even if I wanted to come out of retirement - like some people," she added dryly.  
  
Kim chuckled.  
  
"GJ was able to provide me with a hearing device for my good ear that amplifies my hearing," Director said. "So my hearing is now almost as good as it was before I was imprisoned by the Acceptables." She rubbed at the hair that was styled in such a way that it completely covered the scarred tissue where her other ear used to be. "I did consider another job elsewhere. Something behind the scenes, where I don't have to feel self-conscious about my appearance. I even got an offer to work as an associate producer for a televised sports show. But once the preliminary petition was filed . . . "  
  
Dr. Director disappeared from view for a moment before returning with a little boy on her lap. "For now, I have guardianship. But as he is the last living member of his family," she said, "my attorneys assure me that Thomas Acceptable's new name will be Thomas Director within a few months."  
  
Kim was happy for both Dr. Director and the littlest Acceptable, but she shifted uncomfortably as she was reminded of the death of his parents and siblings. Specifically one Mrs. Acceptable, who had died because . . .  
  
Closing her eyes briefly, Kim gave a little shake of the head and temporarily banished thoughts of that moment from her mind.  
  
"My new mission in life," Dr. Director was saying, "is to make sure that Thomas has the childhood that his older brothers and sister never got. And to make sure that when he grows up, he is a normal, happy, productive member of society. If Thomas becomes someone like you, Kim Possible, rather than someone like John Acceptable, then I will have accomplished something very great indeed."  
  
This time Kim smiled. Monique had been able to liberate the toddler from his mechanical prison before the robot fell and exploded in a fiery wreck beneath the Acceptable lair. The damage had eventually brought the entire building down, but they'd had time to make sure all the prisoners were safely away. No one had been sorry to see the structure collapse afterwards. It had been a place where great evils were committed.  
  
"As for your future, Kim, your mother tells me you're trying to reconcile the life you've lived over the past five years with your decision to get back into the saving business - "  
  
Kim blinked. Her mother?  
  
"And it must feel like the first day of kindergarten all over again."  
  
She groaned. Humiliation nation.  
  
"I am sure you'll work it out, though. Because you're resourceful, and because you won't have to do it alone. You engender such loyalty in your friends, and even your enemies, Kim. You were born to affect the world, not be affected by it."  
  
Thomas waved at the screen.  
  
"He's such a precocious boy," Dr. Director cooed. "Maybe he'll want to be just like his mommy some day?"  
  
Wade's face suddenly reappeared. "That's the end of the transmission," he said. "So, what about kindergarten?"  
  
Kim growled at the device and turned it off.  
  
It beeped again a second later, and she grumbled as she turned it back on. "Not a topic of discussion," she warned him.  
  
"Got it," Wade said. "And I wasn't finished. Your site just got its first hit since we reactivated it."  
  
Kim sprang up. Anything to get her out of house cleaning. Those janitorial lessons from high school were so not paying off. "What's up?"  
  
"Anonymous tip that someone is going to commit a diamond heist at a museum in Los Angeles at midnight tonight. I've already gotten you air transport."  
  
L.A. wasn't that far by air, and midnight was several hours off. Kim sighed. "So I've got plenty of time?"  
  
"You bet."  
  
If only he'd gotten her ground transportation instead.  
  
_______________________________  
  
"You're looking well, my son," Señor Senior Senior observed as Junior sat across from him at the breakfast table.  
  
"After a month's relaxation and recuperation, I _feel_ better," Junior replied. He would never be mistaken for the young man who went into Acceptable custody. He walked with a slight limp now, and his impressive upper body looked slimmer, leaner, and harder. He also had a scar running down his cheek to his chin, intersecting with his lips halfway down. "And it's good to walk about freely."  
  
"A man should be master of his domain," his father mused as he poured another cup of coffee. "Speaking of which, have you decided what you're going to do now?"  
  
"I decided that before I even escaped," Junior told him flatly. "If I ever got out of there, I swore to myself that I would fight against the Acceptables until victory was mine."  
  
"But the Acceptables are dead, Junior."  
  
"Yes, but their goal of world domination - Father, you may not believe this, but I vowed that it would be I who took over the world, not them. I wish to begin again our old quest. This time, however, I have the commitment I lacked before."  
  
"This is a proud day for me, my son," Senior said, beaming. "You have at last found your life's ambition. You have my complete support in this endeavor. Unfortunately, I cannot join you, but I will provide you with seed money to start your quest."  
  
Junior stared. "What do you mean, you cannot help me? It was your idea in the first place!"  
  
"Yes, but I have too little time for world domination now. Recently I completed a successful takeover of Smart Mart."  
  
"Of who?"  
  
"This has enabled me to gain access to their procurement division, specifically where they get their naked mole rats."  
  
"Their what?"  
  
"Within a year, the naked mole rat will replace the cat as the family pet," Senior said grandly. "Which reminds me - meet Ricardo, the newest member of the family."  
  
A little pink animal climbed out of Senior's jacket pocket and stood on the table. "Hola!" he said brightly.  
  
Junior smacked his forehead.  
  
___________________________________  
  
Kim moved carefully through the darkened museum. The curator's office hadn't received any reports of possible thefts, but they did have a large diamond which they'd acquired a few months ago on display, and it would be a very valuable prize for anyone who could steal it. They'd eventually agreed to allow Kim to wait for the perpetrator and apprehend him.  
  
A year ago, they wouldn't have given her the time of day. But the truth about the Acceptable Family had quickly made the media rounds, and it was common knowledge now that Team Possible was back in business. Kim had waited a few weeks to reopen the web site, though, just so she could try to start getting her life back together. She'd missed a lot of classes, and while the administrators had been somewhat understanding, considering the press reports, she was still trying to work out her assignments with her teachers. And that assumed she would even _be_ finishing college. Could she be a full-time student and the driving force behind Team Possible at the same time? What about a career? Could she hold down a job if she was suddenly called away on a new mission? Might Team Possible _become_ a career for her?  
  
Kim Possible, Renaissance woman - savior, spy, hero . . .  
  
Killer.  
  
She stopped, breathed deeply, and continued.  
  
Ron should have been there, but they were still living in different parts of the country until Kim figured out her college situation and Ron knew which cooking school he should transfer to. And Wade hadn't yet worked out finding separate rides for both people, so Ron was sitting this one out until their lives got a bit less messy.  
  
As she reached the exhibit room where the diamond was, Kim wondered how long she'd have to wait for the thief or thieves to show up. The museum curator had assured her that they were using a complicated system of lasers that would prevent anyone from getting too close. Still, lasers could be beat. Just ask her.  
  
Or ask the shadowy form that was literally perched on the glass case containing the diamond.  
  
"I believe that's breaking and entering," Kim called out.  
  
"Actually, I'm just sitting here."  
  
Kim froze.  
  
"This," Shego continued, "is breaking." She reached down, placed her palm against the glass cover, and froze the glass. She then broke it with her knuckles. "And this is entering." Reaching in, she idly picked up the diamond and bounced it in her hand. "I think this is also called stealing."  
  
"Shego, it's Kim," Kim said quietly. Why was she surprised? Upset? Shego had told her more than once that she had every intention of returning to a life of crime.  
  
"Well, duh," Shego replied. "You think I can't recognize your voice when I hear it? I've been waiting half an hour."  
  
"Waiting? For me? How did you know I'd be here?"  
  
"That's the cool thing about anonymous tips. Anyone can leave them."  
  
"Wait," Kim said. "You mean you tipped _yourself_ off?"  
  
Shego nodded. "Rent-a-cops just aren't any fun, Kimmie." Arching her back, she pushed herself into a complicated back flip and neatly threaded her way through a thicket of lasers. "And lasers? I mean, how easy can they make it? Losers!" Turning her back on Shego, she started running. "And this is called leaving the scene!" she shouted over her shoulder.  
  
Kim was flabbergasted for a second. Shego was behaving like Kim was back in high school, and the last five years hadn't happened. "Shego, stop!" she yelled, trying to keep the other woman in sight.  
  
The moonlight made Shego's delighted grin gleam as she cast a glance backwards.  
  
Kim had only run no more than a hundred yards, however, before she pulled up and stopped. Shego heard the sound of running footsteps cease, and she turned around, dancing lightly on her feet. "What's the matter?" Shego jeered. "Out of shape already?"  
  
"I'm not going to do this any more, Shego," Kim replied quietly. The acoustics made it easy for Shego to hear her.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Shego asked, frowning. "You can't just let me get away."  
  
"I can if it puts an end to this," Kim said.  
  
Shego glared at her. "You've lost it, Possible."  
  
"If you're stealing that diamond because you want me to come after you," Kim told her, "then I'm not going to play that game. Not after everything we've been through."  
  
"Look, get it through your head, Kim," Shego retorted. "I'm evil, and I'm stealing this so I can sell it for lots of money. Then I can relax somewhere in the tropics and get my good laugh on all the people who have to slave away every day just to stay alive, while I live in luxury for breaking the law."  
  
"At least the wage slaves aren't alone," Kim said.  
  
Shego took a few steps forward and shook a fist at her. "Shut up, Kim, before I shut your mouth for you."  
  
"Who goes with you to Waikiki or Bermuda or wherever it is you go, Shego?" Kim asked. "Family? Friends? Anyone? Are you so determined to live your life alone that you push away anybody who gets close to you?"  
  
"Hey, I invited you into my life!" Shego said angrily. "You were the one who decided it was a little too close for comfort!"  
  
"Well, that's a plus," Kim said. "For a minute there I was thinking you'd forgotten everything that happened to us."  
  
Shego folded her arms and glared. "It happened. So what?"  
  
"So there are still issues between us," Kim reminded her. "And we took those issues, and we put them in locked boxes and buried them in the ground, because we were trying to save our alliance. Now the Acceptables are gone, and I want to dig them up, no matter what the consequences. Because I don't want to fight with you, Shego. I want us to be what I thought for a few days maybe we could be."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Friends."  
  
Shego laughed scornfully. "You don't want to be friends with me," she said. "You just want me to walk the straight and narrow path so you don't have to worry about me."  
  
"You're part right," Kim countered. "I don't want to worry about you."  
  
Shego looked at her, bewildered. "I just want it to be like it was before," she finally said plaintively. "It was fun. It was easy."  
  
Kim sighed. "So what, you break the law and wait for me to show up? Then we fight, I win, you escape? And then we start all over again? You call that fun? Maybe before, when things were different. But not now, Shego. When people want to see each other, they don't commit crimes and leave hints. They _visit_. They _call_ each other."  
  
"Are you for real?"  
  
"I spent a month with you, Shego. Twenty-four hours a day. And then you up and vanish again, and I have no idea where you are, and I have no idea what happened to you," Kim said, upset. "The last time that happened, you were in a dungeon for four years and people were doing such horrible things to you that I want to curl into a ball! I was angry you disappeared, but I was worried too. Why don't we practice this, Shego? Instead of bantering, let's try talking. Tell me - where did you go?"  
  
Shego looked down and finally muttered something.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Barbados," she said more clearly. "I was in Barbados."  
  
Kim nodded. Shego deserved the R&R. "The whole time?"  
  
"No, uh, I kind of went to see Dr. D."  
  
"You went to see _Drakken_? Why?"  
  
"Because I hadn't seen the big blue ox in years," Shego said. "Wanted him to know I was all right, I guess."  
  
Kim wondered why Dr. Drakken got that courtesy before she did, but she didn't say anything.  
  
"He's doing okay," Shego went on. "They've got him in remedial education classes, and he's not real happy about that. Then he realized I wasn't there to break him out, and things got a little . . ."  
  
"Heated?"  
  
"Pathetic," Shego grunted. "If it wasn't for the glass partition, he would have wrapped himself around my leg. Calling my name over and over again, banging his fists."  
  
"How did you get away?" Kim asked.  
  
"Well, again, he was behind glass. It wasn't hard."  
  
"No, I mean, when he shouted your name. Didn't they try to arrest you?"  
  
"No, they knew who I was," Shego said. "I've been gone so long, all the outstanding warrants have expired. I'm not actually wanted for anything." Shego looked a little bemused by this, as if it were a new sensation for her.  
  
Kim smiled. "Sounds like Drakken, anyway."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"See?"  
  
"See what?"  
  
"See how we can do this without fighting or chasing each other?"  
  
Shego rolled her eyes. "Are we supposed to sing Kumbaya now?"  
  
"Shego . . ."  
  
"No, really," Shego said, waving her arms. "How fucking naive are you really? What do you expect me to do? Become a goody two shoes like you? Save the day? Get a job maybe? I am _not_ interested, Kim. It might be easy for you, brought up to be Miss Perfect, but - "  
  
"Damn it, Shego, you don't know what you're talking about!" Kim screamed.  
  
Shego stopped, looking startled.  
  
"You have _no_ idea how difficult my life is right now," Kim went on. "You never have. You want to think my life is easy? _You're_ the one who takes the easy way. I have responsibilities and expectations and so many questions, I don't even know what they all are, much less the answers! My best girl friend has decided to fight muggers and thieves in the middle of the night in some of the worst parts of town, and I can't talk her out of it. Ron is putting his college training and career on hold so he can be somewhere near me, and I don't even know if I'm going to _stay_ in college. This _other_ person, who I suddenly _care_ about, 'hint hint', insists on keeping me away with a forty-foot pole. Not to mention the fact that I _killed_ someone last month - " Kim stopped and put a hand over her mouth as she turned away.  
  
"Kim."  
  
Looking up, Kim saw Shego had walked half the distance between them, but she was looking at Kim helplessly, evidently not knowing how to respond. "Have you ever taken a life, Shego?"  
  
Shego looked at her feet. "No," she grudgingly admitted. "Surprised?"  
  
"I don't know. Kind of. Those old gloves of yours weren't exactly minimal force."  
  
"I was never in a position where I _had_ to kill someone," Shego said, "so I didn't. There were all those times with you, of course, but I guess we already covered that."  
  
Kim nodded. "You said once that you thought I considered you beneath me. Shego, I never thought that, but now I feel beneath you. I killed Mrs. Acceptable, and I had my reasons - I had to end it so the baby could be saved, and I wanted Thomas to be free of his warped family forever - but it doesn't change the fact that I did something I never _imagined_ I would do. And that's something I have to live with. But it goes on the pile with all the other things on my shoulders, and there are times when I feel like I'll never make things work. God, Shego, you have no idea how tempted I was when you made me that offer on Senior's island, to be someone like you whose biggest problem seems to be boredom. No idea."  
  
"Then say yes," Shego said softly before she knew what she was doing. "Forget college, forget responsibility, even forget about _her_. We could have such a great time together. Give me someone to lie on the beach with."  
  
"See?" Kim asked, smiling a little. "Being friends - it's what we both want."  
  
Shego just waited for an answer.  
  
"My life has become so complicated since you smashed through my window that night, and it would be so easy to just say 'Screw it all', but I'm not going to do that," Kim said wearily. "I say no, not because I don't want to be with you, or because I look down on you, Shego. I say no because I'm not wired that way. I'm not someone who can escape responsibility. I'm someone who embraces it. So I'm going to work through my guilt. And I'm going to get that college degree. And I'm going to find a way to fit everything in. I don't know how, but I'm going to do it. But there's one other complication I'm not giving up on, Shego, and that's you," Kim added. "Why can't we figure out what we're going to do with our lives together?"  
  
"I - I don't know," Shego whispered.  
  
"You won't be alone," Kim said. "And Ron could promise you that you'll never be bored with me."  
  
Shego grimaced. "Don't ask me to be friends with your friends, Possible."  
  
"I only ask that we try being friends with each other." Kim smiled. "That sounded kind of like a maybe, Shego."  
  
Still scowling, Shego looked at the diamond in her hand. Then she flung it away, disgusted. "I don't know why I'm doing this," she muttered. "And what happens next then?"  
  
"Well, how about you come back with me, and we work some more on this whole 'talking' thing?" Kim offered.  
  
"A sleepover?" Shego asked dubiously, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Hang out," Kim said. "Maybe help me clean?"  
  
"Don't push it," Shego said as Kim walked over.  
  
Neither spoke as they walked next to each other, but then, there would be plenty of time for talking later. At least Kim felt like things were starting to work themselves out..  
  
Kim looked at her and smiled. Uncertainly Shego smiled back.  
  
"Hoo-shah," Kim thought.  
  
The End. (To be continued???) 


End file.
